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In learning about others, there are some that a single word tells us much about them. If you call a man a communist and say he is from Russia, then you know much about that man and how he lives and thinks and acts. If someone at school is known as a "jock" or a "prep" then you immediately know much in your mind's eye as to how they live their life. You can make safe assumptions as to what moves them and to what is important to them by who the associate with. There have been more than one politician who desired office but failed because of their association with a particular group such as the Nazis or the KKK. Just one simple word is labeled upon them and yet we know from that word much about what makes that person tick.

So it is with the second Simon of the group of Jesus' disciples. The first and foremost Simon was Simon Peter but there was a second Simon in the group and to distinguish him from the other, we are given two words that characterize this lesser-known follower of Christ. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that this Simon was "the Canaanite." Luke twice -- once in his Gospel and another time in the book of Acts -- calls him Simon Zelotes, or, in modern English, Simon the Zealot. These two words associated with his name and the fact that Simon was a Jew are the only details that the Bible reveals to us about this disciple's life but it is not hard to preach or teach about this man because of all of the traits that these two words reveal. There was definitely no one else like Simon the Zealot among the twelve. He was unique in his background and in his personality and in his personal drives. And yet Jesus chose him to be one of the inner group of believers that would establish His church.

At first glance, "Canaanite" might seem to indicate a town or a culture and I have heard and read many preachers misinterpret it as if Simon was from the town of Cana or even a Gentile descended from the Canaanite people who dwelt in the land of Palestine before Israel. Neither of those teachings are right and they err because they fail to take into account the other name given to this Simon: Zealot. The word translated Canaanite is the exact Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word "Zealot." It's Hebrew root is "to be ardent or overly zealous" and the term in Jesus' day as used here did not refer to a town or nation but rather to a extremist revolutionary political party that was alive and well in New Testament times. Most conservative Bible scholars agree that the word indicates that Simon was a member of the group called "the Zealots" and although the Bible doesn't give us details about this radical group, Jewish historians such as Josephus and the history books tell us all that we need to know to paint a startling picture of the early life of this disciple named Simon.

The Zealots were an underground, renegade group that developed in response to the Roman conquering of Israel. They began as a bunch of passionate rebels gathering around a man named "Judas the Galilolean" and they were united with one goal: to deliver Israel from the hand of the pagan Romans. This Judas who was the leader of the Zealots is mentioned in passing in our text in Acts chapter 5. When the Pharisees were trying to decide what to do about the disciples of Jesus, the noted teacher Gamaliel stood up and mentioned Judas' uprising and a few others and mentioned as how they were not from God, therefore nothing came of them and that it might be best to let time tell if the disciples of Jesus' works were from God or not.

The Jewish historian Josephus fills in the blanks of scripture by telling us that in 6 A.D., in response to the same taxing that Joseph and Mary had made their way to Bethlehem for ten years earlier, that this Judas gathered together to himself Jewish men whose loyalty to their country drove them to hatred against Rome (see Ant. 18, 1, 6; 20, 5, 2; War, 2, 8, 1). They met in caves and gathered arms and plotted to do whatever it took to fight against the might Roman army. They headquartered themselves in Galilee and committed themselves to being an underground army of what we would call today "guerrilla warfare." Coming out only for surprise attacks when they thought the odds were in their favor and in the meantime going about the pretense of living ordinary lives and looking for opportunities to stir up a mob against the Roman rule. The Zealots looked for a Messiah that would stamp out Roman rule and help them conquer the foreigners and restore Moses' law and until such a deliverer came, they were determined to fight themselves against the establishment of their invaders.

History tells us that they began what became known as the "Jewish Wars" in which these radical Zealots decided that since they were fighting for a "religious cause," that the laws of the Romans meant nothing to them and anything that they did was justified as long as it was for their passion. And so they became bandits, robbing even fellow Jews on desolate roads and murdering people for money to finance their battles. The only modern-day analogy that I can liken the Zealots actions to is the Muslim jihad with terrorists striking underground and subversively for a cause that they feel is religiously right. If it helps you to understand how extreme this band was, think of them as being to the New Testament society as what terrorists are to our society. They were fiercely sincere and loyal people but for all of the wrong reasons.

A few years after the birth of Christ, the Roman government moved with force against this "Jewish war" and Judas and several other noted leaders were killed. The group dispersed officially but Josephus tells us that the movement continued to flourish behind the scenes of Jewish life with many, many atrocities and horrible acts and attacks being attributed to this group. The most well-known Zealot to you, today, is the man Barabbas who was scheduled to die at the same time as Christ but was released because the crowd chose to crucify their Messiah. Both Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19 tell us that Barabbas had committed murder in an insurrection or uprising in Jerusalem. That insurrection was the work of the underground Zealots and Barabbas was the more well-known of the several criminal terrorists that got caught. That he was being held in A.D. 29 lets us know that the group was still alive and well throughout Jesus' ministry.

And yet it was out of this group, the Zealots and the religious extremists, that Jesus found a disciple and faithful follower to help build His church! Simon the Zealot was chosen to be a member of the twelve. When you realize what exactly the term "Zealot" means then it almost blows one's mind to think about the fact that he would be called to such a group!

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There are many lessons to learn from this Simon the radical. As we have concluded with many of the disciples, the first thought that comes to mind is that if Jesus Christ can save and use mightily Simon the Zealot, then He can truly save and use anyone! For Simon to be known as a faithful member of this group indicates to us that he had probably been at times in on the violent plans of the group. It's possible that he murdered and robbed and looted and fought in times past for his passionate beliefs. And yet, such a man of violence and hardness ends up at the feet of Jesus learning not to "fear the sword that can destroy this physical body but rather He who can throw both body and soul into hell!" This Zealot so apt to take the sword up for a cause that he felt was right, yet surrenders himself to the One who taught "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's." When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was Simon Peter, not Simon the Zealot, who drew the sword and swung at the nearest head. Simon the Zealot is strangely silent and passive in a time where he could have given in to an old nature that had at one time burned brightly.

What the lack of radical action of Simon Zelotes and the fact that he remained faithful to Christ even after watching Him willingly submit Himself to a Roman whip and cross tells us is that Jesus Christ completely changed this Zealot's nature. The old nature was truly overcome by a new, Christ-like nature! That Simon never raised his voice or hand for the cause of Christ in violence tells us much about the work of Jesus in his life. Only someone who had truly been changed could have stood idly by as Roman soldiers took away his beloved Master, and Simon the Zealot is a testimony to the life-changing power of this God that you and I serve today!

Never, never, never underestimate the power of God to truly transform and change somebody's life. Never, never, never forget that if even the most extreme people will allow Jesus Christ to truly work in their life, that they are not beyond hope and help! Even the murderers can be transformed into preachers of the gospel by the power of Jesus Christ and His Word. Even the robbers can become faithful stewards of the treasuries of the blessings of God. God can even take -- dare I say it? -- a Muslim extremist and save them, forgive them, and use them. Perhaps there are some in our country which would write them off as being beyond hope or help, but in such an unlikely place, our Lord found a disciple! The beauty of this Gospel is that it is a "new birth." It's not just believing in a creed and accepting a ideological concept, but it is a spiritual renewing:

Jesus looked at Nicodemus with all of his traditions and laws and said "you must be born again!" I would say to you that you may have never robbed and murdered and then again maybe you have, but either way if you are going to be like Christ and serve Him, it's not enough to just say that you are a believer, but you must be transformed and changed completely by the power of God: you must be born anew and afresh! If you claim to be "saved" and yet people cannot tell a difference in your old life and your new life, then something isn't quite right. The entrance into this thing is not a handshake or a fellowship membership, but it's something that you are born into. And in your new birth, you become a new creature.

I've been around so-called "Christians" who responded in a sinful manner or like they always had responded to something and then realizing that I'm there they excuse their actions with "well, it's just the way I am" or "it's the way I was raised." To such people, I say, "you need to be born again." I've heard people say "well, it's just not in my nature to forgive people who have hurt me, no matter what the Bible says" and to you I say, "you need to be born again a new creature." If you have been born again, then the old creature doesn't matter because it's been laid to rest. If you have truly been born again, then people and even you, yourself, will not be able to miss the difference because the change will be obvious because you will have become a new creature. Don't give me all the excuses about how you can't live for God and do His will and obey His Word because of the past: if God can change Simon the Zealot's nature and passion so that he stands quietly by as Simon Peter swings the sword, then certainly He can transform you! What you need is a life-changing, passion-channeling, sword-sheathing, past-erasing, goals-reforming, heart-wringing experience with Jesus Christ!

I have learned that it is easier for God to take someone a little radical and a little too active in certain areas -- someone who is extremely passionate -- and redirect them and reign them in a bit and use them, than it is for God to take a wet blanket and doubter and try to set them on fire. Sometimes people who are the extremes in the world and who are way overboard in their lifestyle -- if they will submit to the Word of God and allow Him to transform them -- make the best and most zealous Christians. I have seen people come from a religious background where they were used to going to church and being slugs and go through a bunch of rituals and never really get their heart involved and despite their life-long familiarity with the Bible and their previous religious experience, they are passed up by an old druggie or boozer who was wild and extreme and closed the joints down every weekend that yet had a life-changing experience and redirected that passion towards the things of God. Say what you want to, but there is a principle in the Word of God that those who hunger after things will receive them. And sometimes people who have been influenced by years of teachings that they cannot have certain things in God are hesitant to fully embrace those things. But take someone who doesn't know anything and just had the attitude that whatever I'm going to do, let's live it totally up for the moment, and when they direct that hunger towards the things of God, good things can happen! We need some radicals to redirect their passions towards the things of God and lead us in a spiritual revolution of progressing further into the depths of the Spirit!

I think of the Rev. Tim Wallace, who before God found him was a teetotaler and an extremist in living for a good time. He would fight anybody for any reason. He lived hard and all out with everything that he had. And yet when God got a hold of him, the passion that had been directed for living for the devil, was redirected to serving God. That's how a redneck from Mississippi ended up in Bolivia in the jungles establishing churches. That's how a hard nosed fighter in the bars of the Bible belt, ended up becoming someone who would fight against the very princes of darkness in a foreign country and even here in San Antonio. I have seen God use Bro. Wallace in mighty ways and yet never forget that the anointing came through someone who was radical before they ever came to God and yet God just redirected their passion! You ought to rethink whomever it is in your minds that you hold as an "ideal candidate" for coming to our church and experiencing Jesus. The disciples prove that their is no ideal candidate and yet everyone is an ideal candidate. He can save and transform the shy James the Less and He can reach the radical Simon the Zealot. Our God is truly able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or think!

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It becomes clear from studying Simon the Zealot: the only way to conquer a passion is with a stronger passion. Simon was transformed and changed because he ran into someone more passionate about the kingdom of God than he was about the kingdom of Israel. When Simon the Zealot met Jesus Christ, he met someone who was more radical and more sold out and more extreme for His cause than Simon had ever been to his. Jesus had come to pillage and plunder the works of darkness and take back souls. He had come to murder the works of the devil and to provide salvation through the "pulling down of strongholds." It wasn't a physical violence but a spiritual violence, and face to face with such a passion, Simon realized that he had met his match. He had come to stand before someone more devoted and ardent than himself.

We will never reach the zealots and strongly passionate people of our day if we are not ourselves more passionate for the cause of Christ. There are people who everyday passionately leave work and head to the local watering holes to consume their passion of strong drink. You will never win them if you are not just as passionate to coming to church and drinking of the Holy Ghost wine. You will only conquer their passion if they see a stronger passion in your life. There are people who have season tickets to the Spurs who holler and hoop and spend much more than ten to fifteen percent of their salary on their passion. You will never win them unless you are more passionate for the things of the Spirit than they are for the things of the flesh. It takes a stronger passion to win a passion. There are people who trust in the man-made traditions of the Catholic church to save them and with unswerving loyalty they trust whatever some "father" tells them to do and the act with faith on something that cannot save them because it was concocted of men, and yet we will only reach such people, if they see people who are unswerving loyal and obedient to what we know has been commanded of God. If there are scriptures that you know are in the Word of God and yet you choose not to obey them, you will stand in judgment one day with people who loyally obeyed the decree of a false church and yet their false sincerity outshines your loyalty to what you know is the pure Word of God. If you want to win somebody who is strongly passionate about the things of this world, then you must be just as passionate as they are or more about the things of the kingdom of God! Simon the radical was won because he met someone more sold out to a better cause than he!

And let me say this before we move on. Simon's testimony teaches us that it is possible to be radically fanatical about something religious and yet still be lost because you were radical about the wrong things. It is possible to be sincere and be sincerely wrong. Passion in itself does not constitute "rightness" or "truth." For any cause in the world, you can find someone who is fiercely passionate about it to the point of devoting their lives to it. There are people who live with the one passion of doing whatever it takes -- even risking their lives -- to the saving of whales or a few trees. There are people who are passionate about music. There are people who are passionate about sports. There are people who are passionate about rare moths from Asia. Anything you want to name you can find someone who had been completely devoted to it. And so grasp this: just because there are examples of people being sincerely devoted to something doesn't necessarily make it truth.

There are some religious folks who believe what they believe because there have hundreds, even thousands willing to die for what they believe is their cause worth living for. But the commitment of even millions does not mean that something is right. The one judge of whether or not something is right is the unchanging, infallible Word of God. It doesn't matter if the millions are devoted to something, if it doesn't match up with God's Word, then you need to realize that even the millions are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. They are passionate but about the wrong things. If they are that way, then how much more radical and passionate and loyal should we who have receive truth be passionate and loyal to the revelations of Jesus Christ and His teachings?

Do I sound like a radical extremist? I am; because if they can be extreme and hardheaded and willing to sacrifice for their causes, then I ought to be able to do the same thing for His cause. If they will live their lives devoted to the saving of the whales, then shame on us if we cannot commit our lives to the saving of souls from a lake of fire! It's time to get passionate about this thing! We do not serve a God who is dead or who cannot see, hear, or feel, but we serve a God who is live and able and willing to work on our behalf. It's time to let Him change us and transform us to being radicals for His cause and His kingdom. There is no other cause but the cause of Christ that is so worth selling out to!

I find it highly interesting that in the book of Acts, after Simon has followed Christ for some time, that he is still labeled as Simon the Zealot. He is not listed as "Simon the one who used to be the Zealot." He is not listed as "Simon who was once a member of the Zealots." But it is simply "Simon the Zealot." I don't think that he remained a loyal member of the extremist group of Galilee, but rather I think that his lasting title testified to the fact that he was just as radical and sold out to Jesus as he had been to the rebel cause.

And so I'm preaching to you: we ought to become known as "Zealots for Christ!" I'm not talking about taking up arms and gathering ourselves together to physically fight against whatever we think opposes the cause of Christ, but rather to fight passionately with the weapons of our warfare which are the sword of the Spirit and the Word of the Lord. It's time to get crazy enough about Jesus that we sell out completely and are made a new creature in Him. If this world can pierce their tongues and wear certain freak-style clothing to identify themselves with a certain group, then how much more should we be willing to dress modestly and according to the scripture to identify ourselves with His cause? If this world is willing to step out and be bold in their message of promiscuity and sin, then how much more bold should we be in proclaiming the message of truth? I'm not talking about communing ourselves up and drinking the kool-aid but rather getting so radical that we come out of the caves of hiding our light and proclaim to this world that we have found the passion and the life power that they are looking for. We have found it in Jesus Christ! This world is passionate about sin and the things that go along with it, but we can reach them if we are willing to become more passionate about the things of Christ. It takes a stronger passion to conquer a strong passion!

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The final lesson that emanates from the story of Simon the Zealot's conversion is that God specializes in putting opposites together in His church. Now that you know what all Simon's background entailed, contrast him with Matthew, the Levite, who became a tax collector. These are the two that you don't want in the same dormitory at youth camp. One is the extremist that grew up hating the Romans and fighting and even murdering to end Roman taxation, and the other is a Jew, raised by devout parents, who becomes a traitor and offers to collect taxes for the Romans and gets rich by extorting money from his fellow man. Two complete opposites and yet Jesus Christ calls both to the same calling and elevates both to the same inner group of twelve disciples. And so the Roman helper and the Roman hater eat together and fellowship with each other. They travel together and serve together. The proverbial lion and lamb are together in close quarters and it is the will of God for them to be so!

If a church is a true church of Jesus Christ, then it will never be only people who are just like you. If Jesus has a hand in calling people to an assembly, then He will -- on purpose -- call opposites together to serve together. Go do a bio-sketch on the Early Church of the Book of Acts. You will find that it was made up of all backgrounds and cultures and types of people. You had Pharisees who grew up under the strict teachings of Moses worshipping alongside Greeks who grew up serving idols. And the majority of the conflicts and problems in the Early Church came from groups of people who felt like everyone should be like them.

I want to remind you that Paul wrote that we are all members of the body of Christ and that there is only one body but many members. If everybody is the thumbs, then we can be pretty good at hitchhiking but not much else. If we are to use the hands to pick up something and do something, then we need some fingers that oppose the thumbs. If these opposing parts work together, then much good can be accomplished. The book of Proverbs says this:

God puts people in your path whose rubbing against you may bother you but in the end result, will sharpen you and make you more able to work for the kingdom of God. Outgoing people will always wish that the quiet people would praise more exuberantly. Quieter people will always wish that the outgoing people would calm down a bit. Those who are the studious type will always think that the people who are really sensitive to the Spirit ought to study more, and the spiritually sensitive people will always think that the studious types ought to put down the Bible and act on it more. There will talkers and listeners in the body of Christ. But never forget that such a diversity is the will of God because Jesus places people together in His body to sharpen each other and who through working together, can accomplish much for His kingdom.

In several places, Jesus sent out the twelve two by two. One day I want to ask Jesus who exactly was paired with who. Wouldn't it have been just like God to put Matthew and Simon the Zealot together? And if so, they could have ended up in one of two ways: either fighting with each other over their differences or letting the scriptural steadiness of Matthew's mind and the passion of Simon to complement each other and be an awesome dynamo for Jesus. We need to be friends with people who are very unlike us. It does us good. It sharpens us. It helps us grow. Thank God that everybody in the church is not like you!

And when you look at the Early Apostolic Church of the Book of Acts, the two characteristics that jump out the most were their extreme diversity of types of people that made up the body, and the awesome, powerful moves of God's Spirit that they had! What a revival that they saw! What a harvest! What works of God! And yet I am wholeheartedly convinced that the two characteristics are related. God moves more freely and most strongly in a group of people that are diverse and yet united by the common goal of the kingdom of God!

I have been criticized before for saying what I am about to say, but I'll say it again because I truly and wholeheartedly believe it. I do not think that God is pleased with a local church body that is all one culture, one race, one age, one economic background, one educational level or one spiritual level. And I believe that because the Early Apostolic church had different cultures, skin colors, rich people and poor people, college graduates and fishermen, new converts alongside those who had followed Christ for a while, and older saints worshipping with younger ones. And yet despite their differences, they were held together by the same blood washing away their sins, the same name being called over them, the same Spirit being poured out, and the same Word being preached. They ate together, prayed together, fellowshipped together, and saw God move together. And they impacted their world, because nothing is quite convincing as looking into God's fellowship and seeing a Matthew and a Simon loving each other and working for the same cause! Thank God for our differences -- let us use them for His glory and His cause by uniting to work for the same agenda: His kingdom on earth! And when He is King, the lion can lie down with the lamb, and the tax collector with the Zealot!

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There are two separate and somewhat conflicting legends given throughout the years as to the outcome and the final part of Simon the Zealot's life. The lesser-known tradition says that after spending some time in Jerusalem, that Simon traveled into the Parthian Empire which encompassed ancient Babylon and Persia and was violently killed at a town called Colchis in the far north.

A slightly more well-known tradition is written by Eusebius in his Church History. According to Eusebius, Simon the Zealot first journeyed to Egypt and Africa preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then journeyed north and landed upon what would become the British isles and preached Jesus to the tribes there.

Which of the two legends is true, we will not know in this life but both seem to agree that Simon ended his life by joining the disciple Thaddeus in Persia and both were martyred there with Simon's death sentence being the cruel death of being "sawn asunder."

Whatever the circumstances of Simon's death, his conversion and life bear witness to the far-reaching, merciful hands of God and testify to the powerful ability of God to redirect a life. If there is anyone here who have lived your life consumed by the wrong passions, then know that there is One who is even more strongly passionate about changing your life and using you for His kingdom and as an avenue for His blessings. If you will allow Jesus Christ to transform you as Simon did, then nothing will be impossible in your life!