Thaddaeus
Thaddaeus
Greetings and grace to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The weather has a definite change to it. We are quickly entering the hot days of summer as I sit to bring you a word concerning our life in Christ. Summer is definitely upon us.
We are continuing our reflections on the lives of our Lord’s apostles, and we have but two to go. Next week we shall examine the life of the apostle whom Jesus loved. It is hard to imagine so much change is such a short amount of time. Life is seemingly moving forward at a lightening pace. There are new faces in the community as well as in the church. New lives intersecting with ours brings many challenges which can be refreshing to the soul. Those who have been sick are for the most part getting better. Some have been called home and we are thankful their time of struggle is over. All in all there is much to be thankful for.
We will soon be celebrating Memorial Day. We give thanks to God for all those who gave their all to defend our nation and to make it great! We were a nation founded on Christian principles. But as a nation we no longer allow God to be recognized publicly! We must not lose sight of the fact that America is not a Christian nation. America is however a nation filled with Christians. Each of us has been placed here and entrusted with a responsibility to be an influence on our society. In the words of Jesus, “Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” Matt. 5:16. It is always a temptation to shrink away from such a seemingly overwhelming task and say, “There is nothing I can do.” Jesus says there is! It doesn’t matter who you are, as His servant He can use you to make a difference in the world. Just as He used the first apostles.
The apostle we focus our attention on this month is Judas (not Iscariot) also known as Thaddaeus, also known as Lebbaeus. That’s right, he is known by three names. His given name was most likely Judas and he was the son of James. Judas is a name derived from the name Judah meaning “Jehovah leads.” The other two names were more like nick-names which add to our understanding of this man’s character. Thaddaeus has something to do with affection toward family, specifically mother and Lebbaeus implies that this man was tender-hearted. Taken together it is believed that this apostle was one of the youngest in the group of twelve. A young tender-hearted apostle of whom little is known but for which we can most certainly give thanks.
Other than appearing in the lists rendering the twelve apostles, little is recorded in Scripture concerning Judas-Thaddaeus. In John chapter 14 Jesus is speaking to His apostles concerning His departure from this world. He speaks of heaven as having many mansions and His returning to take us there. Thomas asks a question to which Jesus replies, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Philip asks a question to which Jesus responds that He and the Father are One. Then Judas (not Iscariot) asks a question. “Lord how is it that you will manifest Yourself to the world and not to us?” Jesus answers this question by speaking of the Holy Spirit and of how God will abide with His people. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” The key is love! Love for God brings with it all the blessings God has to give. In this simple question we see the heart of one who desires to understand. The things Jesus is speaking of are beyond the reach of the apostles when they were spoken. It is only after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension that the apostles fully understood all Jesus taught.
Get out your Bible and look at all Jesus had to say following Judas-Thaddaeus’ question. From the middle of John 14 to the middle of John 16 all in response to his question. How much would be lost if not for a simple heart-felt question. In our lives so much is missed because we refuse to show what we don’t know by asking a question. These twelve men spent over three years with Jesus and they had hundreds of questions. In our lives we will never run out of questions but at the same time none will be answered if we don’t ask!
We don’t know a great deal about Judas-Thaddaeus. We do know that he was among the twelve Jesus chose after a night of prayer. We also know that he like the other apostles called Jesus “Lord”, that is except for Judas Iscariot who never called Jesus Lord. We know he was with the twelve on the mountain in Galilee when Jesus said, “Having gone, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to treasure all the things I have taught you and lo I am with you always, even to the end of time.” Judas-Thaddaeus was present at Bethany when Jesus ascended to the Father. This disciple was also present in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out and he like the other ten proclaimed the Gospel with great boldness. He was among those who turned the world up-side down.
Our names may never be recorded in the annals of Who’s Who but one thing is sure, we are known to our Lord. He knows us because He has called us by name. In our baptism He chose us to be His disciple and to go forth into the world and live for Him. Individually we might not change the world but together as the Church of Christ we most certainly can! This month we have much to be thankful for but especially for the opportunity to be used by God to be a blessing to others. Amen!
Have a blessed Memorial Day Weekend.
Pastor Russ
Greetings and grace to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The weather has a definite change to it. We are quickly entering the hot days of summer as I sit to bring you a word concerning our life in Christ. Summer is definitely upon us.
We are continuing our reflections on the lives of our Lord’s apostles, and we have but two to go. Next week we shall examine the life of the apostle whom Jesus loved. It is hard to imagine so much change is such a short amount of time. Life is seemingly moving forward at a lightening pace. There are new faces in the community as well as in the church. New lives intersecting with ours brings many challenges which can be refreshing to the soul. Those who have been sick are for the most part getting better. Some have been called home and we are thankful their time of struggle is over. All in all there is much to be thankful for.
We will soon be celebrating Memorial Day. We give thanks to God for all those who gave their all to defend our nation and to make it great! We were a nation founded on Christian principles. But as a nation we no longer allow God to be recognized publicly! We must not lose sight of the fact that America is not a Christian nation. America is however a nation filled with Christians. Each of us has been placed here and entrusted with a responsibility to be an influence on our society. In the words of Jesus, “Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” Matt. 5:16. It is always a temptation to shrink away from such a seemingly overwhelming task and say, “There is nothing I can do.” Jesus says there is! It doesn’t matter who you are, as His servant He can use you to make a difference in the world. Just as He used the first apostles.
The apostle we focus our attention on this month is Judas (not Iscariot) also known as Thaddaeus, also known as Lebbaeus. That’s right, he is known by three names. His given name was most likely Judas and he was the son of James. Judas is a name derived from the name Judah meaning “Jehovah leads.” The other two names were more like nick-names which add to our understanding of this man’s character. Thaddaeus has something to do with affection toward family, specifically mother and Lebbaeus implies that this man was tender-hearted. Taken together it is believed that this apostle was one of the youngest in the group of twelve. A young tender-hearted apostle of whom little is known but for which we can most certainly give thanks.
Other than appearing in the lists rendering the twelve apostles, little is recorded in Scripture concerning Judas-Thaddaeus. In John chapter 14 Jesus is speaking to His apostles concerning His departure from this world. He speaks of heaven as having many mansions and His returning to take us there. Thomas asks a question to which Jesus replies, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Philip asks a question to which Jesus responds that He and the Father are One. Then Judas (not Iscariot) asks a question. “Lord how is it that you will manifest Yourself to the world and not to us?” Jesus answers this question by speaking of the Holy Spirit and of how God will abide with His people. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” The key is love! Love for God brings with it all the blessings God has to give. In this simple question we see the heart of one who desires to understand. The things Jesus is speaking of are beyond the reach of the apostles when they were spoken. It is only after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension that the apostles fully understood all Jesus taught.
Get out your Bible and look at all Jesus had to say following Judas-Thaddaeus’ question. From the middle of John 14 to the middle of John 16 all in response to his question. How much would be lost if not for a simple heart-felt question. In our lives so much is missed because we refuse to show what we don’t know by asking a question. These twelve men spent over three years with Jesus and they had hundreds of questions. In our lives we will never run out of questions but at the same time none will be answered if we don’t ask!
We don’t know a great deal about Judas-Thaddaeus. We do know that he was among the twelve Jesus chose after a night of prayer. We also know that he like the other apostles called Jesus “Lord”, that is except for Judas Iscariot who never called Jesus Lord. We know he was with the twelve on the mountain in Galilee when Jesus said, “Having gone, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to treasure all the things I have taught you and lo I am with you always, even to the end of time.” Judas-Thaddaeus was present at Bethany when Jesus ascended to the Father. This disciple was also present in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out and he like the other ten proclaimed the Gospel with great boldness. He was among those who turned the world up-side down.
Our names may never be recorded in the annals of Who’s Who but one thing is sure, we are known to our Lord. He knows us because He has called us by name. In our baptism He chose us to be His disciple and to go forth into the world and live for Him. Individually we might not change the world but together as the Church of Christ we most certainly can! This month we have much to be thankful for but especially for the opportunity to be used by God to be a blessing to others. Amen!
Have a blessed Memorial Day Weekend.
Pastor Russ
Recent
Archive
2025
January
2024
February
May
June
August
September
October
2023
January
March
May
Categories
no categories
No Comments