Trinity Baptist Church

Making a Difference in the World

Simon the Zealot, A Man On Fire

Luke 6:15

 

We are quickly coming to the conclusion of our series of studies on the Twelve Apostles; men that Jesus used in Making a Difference in the World.

 

The apostles actually group together into three groups of four.  Every time they are listed in the New Testament, although the exact order differs a little, they groupings are the same.  The first group is Peter, Andrew, James and John.

 

Next come Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas.  The final group is James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot and the two men named Judas.

 

Now it seems to me that the intensity of the relationship and the closeness to the Lord of these men is seen in the arrangement of these groups.  Someone has said, “The Lord doesn’t have any favorites but He does have intimates.”  And I think there is a suggestion of that seen here.

 

With Peter, James and John and to a slightly lesser degree, it is very obvious they were the closest to the Lord; His inner circle, if you will.  We know a great deal about them.  We hear their words and read their conversations.  We get to see how they acted and interacted.

 

With the next group, the same is true.  They are not in the inner circle, but a great deal of their personality and life is seen through what is recorded of them in the gospels. But with the final group, we know very little.  In fact, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, we don’t know much more than their names.

 

So obviously some of the disciples were as involved with or close to the Lord as were others.  They certainly didn’t all share the spotlight to the same extent. There were some who shine very brightly and there are some who were less obvious.

 

But think about this:  In the story of the creation we read that God created different kinds of lights.  We are told He made the sun to be dominant in the day and the moon to be more obvious at night. He also made the stars as lesser lights.

 

Now think about what that teaches us about the disciples and about ourselves as well.  Just as with the heavenly bodies there are greater and lesser lights, that is also true among the men who made up the Apostles and it’s true of the church as well.

 

And I don’t know about you, but personally, I am more encouraged by the “lesser lights” than I am the greater lights when it comes to the Apostles.

 

To be honest, the “super saints” are a little bit distant from where I live my life.  But I am glad to know that the lesser known apostles were just as important as the others.  And from them we can learn some valuable lessons.

 

 

This is important because behind the scenes in any church there are always unsung heroes; people who serve quietly, without public acclaim, doing things that are essential to the health and growth of the church.

 

And the truth of the matter is that the majority of Christians will always be those who serve God anonymously with little or no accolades because there are not many spotlights for Christian heroes on this side of eternity.

 

Now this morning we come to one of the most interesting of the 12 because even though the only thing that we know about him, beyond his name is the title attached to his name.  He is known as Simon the Zealot and that one little piece of information paints for us a picture of a man who was on fire for Jesus.

 

As far as Scripture is concerned, we don't know where he came from, we don't know anything that he did, anything that he said.  We don't even know for sure where he ended up or where or how he died.  The only thing that we know about him for sure is his name and this title.

 

And every time his name is mentioned in scripture, it is attached to this tile.  And if you look at the history of the word, to be zealous carries the idea of an emotion that was literally boiling over.  It means to seethe or fume or burn.

 

So what does that tell us about his apostle named Simon?  I think first of all,

 

 

 

You see, that little phrase there, "the Zealot" is more than a description; it's a designation and a definition. It tells us that here was a man who was completely consumed with a nationalistic zeal for his country.  That's why he was called a "Zealot."

 

Luke uses that designation in Luke and Acts.  Matthew and Mark refer to him as a Canaanite but not because he was from Canaan.  More literally, he was a Cananaen and it is a word that roots back to the Hebrew that means "to be jealous," or "to be passionate or zealous."

 

In particular, it was used in the Hebrew language for those who were passionate and jealous and zealous for the law of God. And that is the word used to refer to this man.

 

He was a man who had zeal and passion, in particular for the Law of God. And apparently, just because he got saved and became a follower of Jesus didn’t mean he lost his passion because here he is several years later and he is still referred to as “The Zealot”.  He carried that label all his life.

 

Now just to understand where he was coming from let me share a little with you about the Zealots.

 

In that day, there were 5 major political/religious parties that were in power in Judea.

 

There were the Pharisees.  They were the religious fundamentalists of their time.  They were extremely conservative when it came to the rules and regulations of the law.

There were the Sadducees. They were the liberal religious group of that day who denied the supernatural. Later they denied, in particular, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That’s why they were “sad, you see”.  They were also rich, powerful and in charge of the Temple.

 

There were the Essenes.  They were the independents who lived out in the desert and devoted themselves to the study of the Law.

 

There were the Herodians who were loyal to Herod.

 

And then there were the Zealots.  Now the Zealots were the Pharisees of the Pharisees.  They not only interpreted the Law literally, but they believed that somebody who didn't interpret the Law the way it should be interpreted and didn't live by that Law could be killed.

 

And they were more politically minded than any of these other groups and they lived out there in the far right wing of the political landscape of that day.

 

Today they would be a part of the modern militia movement in America who see a conspiracy behind every stone and a threat around every corner. They are extremists by every definition of the word.  On an international lever, they are the Muslim terrorists of our day.  They are the original Al-Qaida.  And they were marked by this fiery, fervent, fanatical love for God and country.

 

Now, the Bible doesn't give us much information about these fanatics called Zealots, other than this title given to Simon and the mention of the death of one of their leaders in Acts chapter 5.

So, basically what we know about them comes mostly from secular history through a Jewish historian by the name of Josephus.

 

And according to Josephus, this Jewish nationalist party that was called the "Zealots" traced their beginning back to the days of the Maccabean rebellion when a man by the name of Judas of Galilee started and died in a revolt when the Greeks were still leading and ruling over Israel. The temple had been desecrated, a pig had been slain on the altar to mock Judaism and its ceremonial laws and the Jews were sick and tired of it and this rebellion against that gave rise to the Zealots.

 

So, the Zealots hated the Romans and anybody else who compromised or collaborated with the Romans and their goal was to overthrow Roman occupation and bring about the Messianic kingdom that they read about in the prophecies of the Old Testament.

 

In fact, they believed that not only had Rome destroyed the independence of Israel, they believed that Rome's pagan influence was permeating their culture and making it difficult for them to keep the law and observe many of the ceremonies that were set forth in the Law of Moses.

 

So they worked and fought and planned and prayed for a Messiah who would restore the Kingdom of Israel and return the glory of the Old Theocracy that had once been the distinguishing mark of their nation.  They were red-hot patriots and they did what they did in the name of God.

 

 

 

They used guerilla warfare, burning, plundering and going up into Galilee to hide and sometimes even killed their own countrymen whom they believed compromised with Rome.

 

Josephus said, “All they need to say is very little because everybody knows these people are so zealous they will literally die and if the people around them that are in their group fall at their side, that does not at all mitigate their resolution. They don't mind dying any kind of death, nor do they heed the torture of their kindred and their friends. You can torture them. You can kill them. But you can't change their passion.”

 

In fact, when the Romans eventually destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, it was primarily because of the Zealots.  Over a million Jews were destroyed in that holocaust, and much of it could have been avoided, except for the radical position of the Zealots.

 

The Roman tactic for defeating a city was to move in and cut off the supply lines.  Once the city was staved down, they would send in negotiators and come up terms of surrender.  There were people in Jerusalem who wanted to do that to save their lives and their city but the Zealots wouldn't allow it. They actually killed the Jews who wanted to negotiate and as a result, wound up getting their entire city destroyed and the population massacred.

 

In fact, Josephus records this:  "Nothing shows that fanaticism of the Zealots better than the incident in which the last of them finally perished. When Jerusalem fell, some strongholds in the city still held out.

 

The last of them was outside the city in a place called Masada. There a group of Jews commanded by Eleazar held out. When it was clear that all hope of escape was gone, Eleazar summoned the Jews together, made a flaming speech in which he urged them first to slaughter their own wives and children, then to commit suicide. They took him at his word. They tenderly embraced their wives, kissed their children and then began the bloody work. Nine-hundred and sixty perished, only two women and five children escaped by hiding in a cave.”

 

They were so zealous they literally killed their families, rather than be taken by the Romans.

 

And Simon is one of them.  And here was a man who by his very title is described as a man who had a red hot, raging, boiling, burning love for God and country.  And just in case you haven't realized it yet, when the writer's of scripture refer to this man as a "Zealot" they weren't paying him a compliment.  It was like calling Matthew a tax collector or Judas the traitor.

 

Now, why did I go into all of that?  Because I want you to see what kind of a character Simon was before he met Jesus.  He was a fanatic.  He was a terrorist.  He was a militant.  Most likely he was a murderer.  He had probably committed all kinds of crimes against Rome and even his fellow Jews and he did what he did because of his love for God and country.

 

But think about this:

 

After meeting Jesus. . .

 

 

We're not told how or when He met Christ.  We're not given the details of his conversion.  We don't know the circumstances that caused him to forsake the political causes of the Zealots and follow Christ. All we know is that he did.  He met Jesus and Jesus totally transformed his life and he left a group known for death and became part of a group that was concerned with life.

 

We see little indicators of that scattered through the gospels.  For instance, Jesus taught his followers to pay their taxes to Rome.  He said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars." Remember when Jesus sent them out fishing to catch that fish and find that coin so that they could pay their taxes? 

 

A true Zealot would never have gone for that, and yet we are told nothing of any rebellion against Jesus by Simon.

 

Remember when Jesus was talking about how far to go when somebody is abusing you?  What did He say?  "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles."  Do you know what He was talking about?  A Roman soldier could pick you out of the crowd and force you to carry his load, and Jesus said if they do that, literally "go the extra mile."

 

A Zealot would never have bought that and we find no argument from Simon about that teaching.

 

But I'll tell you the thing that really makes me believe that Simon was a changed man, and that is the fact that he ate and slept and walked and worked with a Roman tax collector by the name of Matthew.  Matthew was a man who had sold himself to Rome to extort taxes out of Israel.  He was the most hated and despised of all people in that society because he was a Roman tax collector.  He betrayed his own people and aided and abetted a pagan invader.   Matthew is the poster child of everything Simon was against.  He would just as soon have slashed his throat in the name of God. But instead of murdering Matthew, He ministered with him.

 

Some of you have people in your life and church that you can’t get along with because of something they’ve said or done.  It just hurts so deep and you are so injured.  Well get over it!

 

Can you imagine what the first church service was like when Simon the Zealot and Matthew are in the same room? I’ll guarantee you Matthew is praying with his eyes open!

 

You want proof that Jesus had changed his life?  Look at Simon and Matthew sitting together at the Lord’s Supper and ministering in the name of Christ.  See them together after the crucifixion huddling in the upper room.  Watch them take the gospel to a lost and dying world and turn that world upside down for Christ! Only Christ can do that!

 

J.G. Greenhow writes, "These were men divided from each other by a wide, deep gulf of thought and feeling and even of impassion and hatred, yet the Publican and the Zealot clasped hands and they joined hearts at Jesus' feet. In the furnace of His love these opposites were welded together.

 

 

 

It was a picture and prediction on a small scale of what would come to pass in the greater church, where walls of partition were to be broken down, where national antipathies were to be crucified and buried with Christ and rise again transfigured into the glory of the uniting faith and charity and where there were to be neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free but Christ all and in all."

 

So, here's the point of the whole sermon.  This is the "take away" if you will.  This is what I want you to learn from the life of Simon the Zealot.

 

When you come to Jesus and Jesus saves you, He doesn't change your personality, but He does channel your passion.  After Simon followed Jesus they still called him a zealot but it was no longer referencing his politics but his passion.  Here was a man who was just as hot hearted, fiery, and passionate about things as he ever was.  It's just that instead of living for this world, He was looking for a world to come.  Instead of trying to liberate Jerusalem and restore its glory, he gave the rest of his life trying to bring glory to Jesus.

 

I wonder if when he preached he ever gave testimonies about his background, and apparently he did preach. Eusebius, the church historian, says he preached in the British Isles, in Egypt and in Africa. And because of his preaching, they sawed him in half. You know, that just makes sense, because if the old Zealot was willing to die for political causes and the love of God and country, after being saved by the grace of God, he was even more willing to die for spiritual causes and the love of Christ.

 

 

One of the most famous and prolific inventors of all time was Thomas Edison.  He was born in Milan Ohio and raised in Port Huron, Michigan.  He only had three months of formal education. His mind tended to wander and the teacher said he seemed “addled”, so his mother homeschooled him.

 

He developed hearing problems when he was very young, most likely cause by scarlet fever.  But in spite of the difficulties of his early life, he made amazing contributions to life around the world.

 

In addition to the light bulb and the phonograph, he developed the motion picture camera and made improvements to the telephone and telegraph. In fact, in his 84 years, he acquired an astounding 1,093 patents.

 

When he was 67 years old, a fire destroyed over half the buildings in his West Orange Laboratory after an explosion in the film inspection building. Damages reached seven million dollars, with only two million covered by insurance, according to The New York Times.

 

Two hundred fifty workers were in the buildings at 5:20P.M. when the blaze erupted.  Edison and his wife rushed to the scene and stayed until midnight when firefighters were finally able to contain the blaze, saving the important Experimental Laboratory and Storage Battery buildings.

 

The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

 

Indeed he did!

 

Cleanup work at the devastated site began the next day when all 7,000 employees reported for duty. Reconstruction plans quickly followed.

 

What struck me as amazing was a footnote to the story that within two days, Edison had also finalized design of a portable searchlight whose three million candlepower beam would be visible for miles.

 

In the midst of the catastrophe, Edison had noticed how the firefighters were hampered by the loss of power and light.  He puzzled over the problem and came up with the battery driven light source idea and design. Within six months, Edison was demonstrating his latest invention in a nearby park attracting curious onlookers who wondered where the bright light was coming from!

 

I couldn’t help but think about old Simon the Zealot who could look back over his life and say, “All my mistakes are burned up.  Thank God I can start anew”.  And for the rest of his life he would attract the attention of those around who wondered where that bright light was coming from as he burned for the Lord. 

 

What about you? Where’s your passion? What captivates your time and energy?  Would you allow Christ to redirect that zeal toward something that will last for eternity and live the rest of your life on fire for God?  Know that today that all your mistakes can be taken care of and you can start anew!

 

Let’s pray.