OPEN: This morning I want to talk to you about the periodic table (we showed a periodic table on the screen). On this periodic table are two elements that I find intriguing. One of these is Sodium. Sodium is the 6th most abundant element in the Earth's crust (did you know that?) As a solid, Sodium is flammable and will ignite spontaneously in air and reacts violently with water or steam to produce flammable and explosive Hydrogen gas. It can highly corrosive to eyes, skin and mucous membranes.
Then there’s chlorine/chloride. Chlorine is among the 10 highest volume chemicals made in the USA. At room temperature, chlorine is a gas. And when chlorine enters the body as a result of breathing, swallowing, or skin contact, it reacts with water to produce acids. The acids are corrosive and damage cells in the body on contact. Chloride has been classified by the EPA as a hazardous waste.
Separately, these two elements are very hazardous to us. But if you combine them TOGETHER do you know what you get? TABLE SALT!
Someone once observed that if put these 2 hazardous elements in your mouth by themselves, they’d either blow you up (sodium) or poison you (chlorine). But merged into a compound—called sodium chloride—they change into an essential element of life. You’ve got to have salt to survive!!! The salt taste comes from the chlorine; which is also vital for making the hydrochloric acid which digests food in our stomach.
With that thought in mind, I want to remind you of Jesus’ comment: “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13) You and I make the world “flavorful” but separately we are made up elements that would make us dangerous to the world around us.
For example, last week we talked about Matthew the Tax collector. Matthew was one of the 12 Apostles, but originally, he was a man of questionable reputation who’d collected taxes for the hated Romans.
Today we’re going to look at another apostle named Simon the Zealot. That was his label – Zealot! We don’t know much about Simon from Scripture, but we do know he was a zealot…and we know a lot about the zealots. About 10 years after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a group of Jewish partisans who absolutely hated Rome. They’d followed a Galilean named Judas and they stormed the palace in Jerusalem and broke into the arsenal intending to start a revolution. But… that didn’t go real well. Acts 5:37 tells us "Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered."
And that was the beginning of a rebellious group that became the Zealots. They may have been scattered but they were determined to undermine the grip of Rome on Israel at all costs. One specific group of the Zealots became assassins (called the sicarii) and often carried a curved knife under their robes to assassinate anyone who displeased them. Their goal to terrorize the countryside and they burned the homes of rich Sadducees to the ground and eliminated anyone they saw as a traitor to their cause. It was these actions of the Zealots that instigated the Great Jewish Revolt (67–73) which caused Rome to sweep through Judah ultimately surrounding and destroying Jerusalem. As Jerusalem was under siege, people inside the city were starving, and the situation was bleak and hopeless. People began to think of surrender. But, the Zealots so hated Rome, that they began to murder anyone who even spoke of surrendering to the Romans. (From a sermon by Glenn Pease)
The zealots looked on Jews who paid taxes to Rome as compromisers and enemies of Israel. Their battle cry was, "No Lord but Jehovah, no tax but the temple tax, no friend but the Zealot." And any Jew who entered into an agreement with the Romans (say, a Jew who became a tax collector) was marked for assassination.
And Matthew was a tax collector. Simon was a zealot. Sodium… and chloride!
Ordinarily that wouldn’t have worked out real well. Somebody was going to die and I’m pretty sure it would’ve been Matthew. But that didn’t happen! WHY? Well… Jesus happened.
There was something about Jesus that caused His followers to be so focused on HIM that nothing else mattered. There was something about Jesus that caused people to love Him more than anything else. Jesus came to transform us so that we wouldn’t be hazardous to those around us. So we would become the salt of the earth,
In fact, that was prophesied way back in Isaiah 11 - “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” Isaiah 11:6-10
BUT now… wait a minute. That doesn’t say anything about PEOPLE getting along. It’s talking about animals. In fact, there are prophetic teachers who will try to tell you that this passage is talking about how animals will treat each other at the 2nd Coming. Where did they get that idea? I haven’t got a clue… but I do know that they didn’t get it from Scripture. The Bible doesn’t say this has anything about this happening at the 2nd Coming of Christ.
But the Bible DOES tell us that this prophecy applied to the Church. RIGHT NOW… not in the future.
Now, how do I know that? Notice verse 10 again. It starts by saying “IN THAT DAY the root of Jesse will stand as a banner”… WHAT DAY? The day that all these animals are playing nice with each other. In “that day”, the root of Jesse shall stand as a banner for the people. For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”
That verse was quoted in Romans 15:12 to explain that the Gentiles were intended to be part of the church. That’s not a prophecy about the 2nd coming. That’s a prophecy about how Christians should treat each other in the church. All this talk about animals laying down and not hurting each other was intended to describe how TRUE Christians should behave.
ILLUS: Have you ever of someone being called a a snake in the grass? Or a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Or as sly as a fox? Or have you heard of someone being as gentle as a lamb? Or as innocent as a dove? Essentially, that’s what Isaiah 11 was saying. It’s describing the tendencies of people who were once very dangerous and scary - but now could be trusted to be around other individuals who were innocent and vulnerable. And that’s what the Church IS meant to be.
And that’s what was happening with Simon. Once SIMON came to Jesus … he changed.
But now… wait a minute. Not everybody who goes to church… changes. There are church folk who are nasty and hurtful. I’ve known of plenty of people who attend church who’ve split churches, ruined ministries, destroyed preachers. That’s not supposed to happen. BUT IT DOES!!!
Why does that happen? A couple of reasons come to mind:
1. Not everybody who goes to church is a Christian. Someone once said that: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting your garage makes you a car.”
Now granted we should “go to church.” Hebrews tells us We should “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25
We should always want to meet together as a church… but this building is not a church. This building is just a place where the church meets. But this building can also be a place where pagans hang out. Pagans have no love nor loyalty to Christ, it just makes them feel good to be in the “building” and pretend to be what they are not. I’ve seen churches where as many a 1/3 of the people who met there were pagans. They loved the building more than they loved Jesus, and they loved getting their own way more than they loved doing things Jesus’ way. It happens.
But it happens way LESS here… than in some churches I’ve seen. As churches go, this is as safe a congregation as you’ll get.
So first – not everyone who goes to church is Christian, and they hurt people because they don’t belong to Christ. They have no loyalty… no love for Jesus.
But now there a 2nd reason church goers hurt each other. That 2nd reason is that there are church goers who haven’t grown up yet. They’re Christians… but they’re in playpen chewing on their toys. They haven’t learned to be mature in their faith yet.
Even Jesus’ 12 disciples didn’t become mature overnight. One person noted that “If you had a ministry like Jesus’, it would probably be made up of 12 people who didn’t get your illustrations, and one who wanted to kill you.” (Mike Yaconelli)
If you’ve spent any time reading the Gospels and you’d see that the disciples often quarreled, and schemed, and doubted… and a couple of times they even questioned Jesus’ sanity. It took 3 years of constantly walking with Jesus before these guys finally “GOT IT”! They didn’t follow Jesus one day and then suddenly become powerhouses for the Kingdom the next. They had to grow up to become what Jesus knew they could be.
But Simon the Zealot wasn’t necessarily “Grown Up” when he 1st came to Jesus. And if he wasn’t grown up, how could Simon have decided not to hurt Matthew? Well, here’s the deal - you don’t have to be grown up to know that you LOVE Jesus. And if you love Jesus you’ll want to please Him.
ILLUS: My grandson is 4 years old, and he’s not at all grown up. But he loves me and he wants to please me. In the same way, Simon loved Jesus and he intended to please Him.
But how was Simon going to please Jesus? Well, by doing what Jesus wanted done!
ILLUS: I once read a survey where people were asked if they could remember anything that Jesus had said. The question was asked of both Christians and non-Christians. And do you know what the most popular response was? LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
• A new commandment I give you – Love one another.
• By this shall men know you’re my disciples – love one another
Even non-Christians knew that one! And Simon would have heard that as well. And because Simon loved Jesus he was determined to love others as well - even Matthew.
CLOSE: Now, here’s my point: Without Jesus we can be painful people to be around. We are the salt of the earth, but it’s NOT just being in church that makes us that salt. It’s being in Jesus, and loving Jesus. Philippians 2 tells us we have more reason to love others than Simon had. Jesus is our example of how to love others …
“If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:1-11
INVITATION
