Matthew 6:24-33

Watch on YouTube

Who cares? It doesn’t really matter that much anyway. Who actually cares? Those were the words out of the young man’s mouth, and he was a little bit frustrated ’cause he was going over his handwriting and spelling, and his teacher was correcting a number of things, and so his frustration got the better of him. In some ways, I can sympathize with that attitude. Writing college papers, I thought I got the general idea, and I handed in the paper. My professor sure knocked me down a little bit for the punctuation and spelling that I missed.

So imagine if you had that attitude throughout your life. You’re driving in your car, and you feel a rumbling in the tire, and you’re like, “Well, that doesn’t really matter that much anyway,” so you just keep on going. Well, eventually you’re gonna have a flat tire, and you won’t be going anywhere. So you see that those small things sometimes do matter. If that young boy applies himself to his spelling and punctuation, that’s gonna help him throughout his life. If you take care of your car, that’s gonna help you throughout your life.

So what about our devotional lives and our spiritual lives and things like that? Do those things really matter? Do the, our prayers in the morning or our prayers before our meals, our saying a devotion throughout the day, attending church, do those things really matter? Well, I think we would see that those things do matter, and there’s a certain value to all of those things throughout your life, and they’re good for you.

At the same time, you don’t wanna live your life feeling like you’re never good enough, you haven’t done enough. So how do you prioritize? How do you balance those things? Well, our scripture lesson for today, written in Matthew 6, I think speaks a great deal to this. It says,

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.

“For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

“Which of you can add a single moment to his lifespan by worrying? Why do you worry about clothing? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not clothe you even more, you of little faith?

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unbelievers chase after all these things. Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

(Matthew 6:24-33)

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. But who cares about that? Well, God cares. Jesus cares. God cares so much that he sent his Son into this world, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus cares so much for your salvation that he sought you first. As it says in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Jesus cared so much for you and for me that he died for us while we were yet sinners to pay for the debt of our sins all of the times that we’ve messed up and not prioritized things correctly. Jesus lived a perfect life in our stead and paid for those sins of ours so that we could be justified before the Father.

So now we can seek him because he has first sought us. We can love our neighbor, and we can walk in the good works that God has prepared for us beforehand. That is a joy, knowing that our salvation is already paid for on the cross, that Christ has won it for us. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be added to you as well. Amen.

Matthew 5:4

Watch on YouTube

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

Now when we think of mourning, we usually think of death, the sorrow that someone experiences, the pain that someone feels when they lose a loved one.

And while this second beatitude can be talking about mourning in that sense, when Scripture talks about mourning it can involve sorrow and sadness over a lot of other things as well. Certainly we mourn when we are affected and pained by death, but we also sorrow over sin.

We see how the second beatitude is linked to the first. All men are poor in spirit, but not all men recognize that. When we recognize our sorry state, when we recognize our spiritual condition, that we are poor in spirit, we are led to this attitude of mourning. As we look at the world around us and its fallenness and its brokenness, as we look within ourselves and see our sin, we are led to mourn, to sorrow over the evil that surrounds us and is even inside of us. So to those who mourn, to those who recognize their status as poor in spirit, Jesus offers this comfort, and the comfort that Jesus gives us is the reversal of all of the things that would cause us sorrow and sadness.

To those who mourn because they are affected by death, Jesus offers the comfort and promise of the resurrection. How by His death on the cross He defeated death, and by His rising again showed that it is powerless, that the promise of the resurrection gives to us the hope of life everlasting, that this world is not all there is, but we have life in the world to come.

And this comfort extends to all the things that would cause us to mourn. As we look at Jesus, as we mourn over our sin, we see our sins are forgiven. As we look at the fallenness of the world around us, we have the comfort and the promise of the kingdom of heaven when all wrongs will be righted.

But there is a distinction between the first and the second beatitudes as well. In the first beatitude, and notice the difference here, Jesus says, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” By faith we receive the blessings and benefits of that kingdom now. But here in the second beatitude, Jesus says, “They shall be comforted.” He’s pointing forward towards a future comforting because the fact is that even though we receive some of this comfort in this life, we’re still surrounded by sin. We still have to deal with sin inside of us. Even after we come to faith and receive this comfort from Christ, we’re still stuck in this fallen world. The comfort we receive is only in part.

To those who mourn over their sin, to those who mourn over the world’s fallenness, Jesus offers the future comfort, a full and final promise, the end to all mourning, when death will be no more and God will wipe away the tears from every face.

Although we mourn in this life, we look forward to the life to come where mourning will be no more. Everything that causes us sorrow will be taken away.

Amen.

Isaiah 49:14-16

Watch on YouTube

I heard a quote one time, it was really interesting, and it’s from a book that talks about different perspectives on the afterlife.

And the quote goes like this: “There are three deaths. First, when the body physically dies. Second, when the body is consigned to the grave. And third, when among all the living, no one remembers your name or your deeds.” I read that quote one time, and I just thought to myself, “Well, that’s such… a final perspective on the afterlife.” And, you know, that’s a common motif throughout the world. The ancient Greeks wanted to live forever using glory, essentially, and that’s how some people of in our own world think about how they’re gonna live forever. “Well, my legacy will live forever. My deeds will live forever.” But if you really think about what that ends up meaning, really the easiest way to be remembered is to do something bad, right? To do something that’s terrible. And sometimes that’s why people do terrible actions, is to be remembered for them.

Now, you and I know that there are actions that we have committed that we would like people to forget about them, that we don’t want them to be remembered. Maybe the good stuff we say, “Yeah, please remember that. Please remember me for those things.” But we have a Heavenly Father who has seen all of our actions, everything we’ve done, the good, the bad, the ugly, and He still loves us.

He sent His Son, Jesus, to live and die for us. Let us read from Isaiah chapter 49.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; (Isaiah 49:14-16)

What a beautiful message, beautiful Gospel message from Isaiah, where God makes it so plain to us that He takes this comparison of a woman and her nursing child. What woman could forget her child? He says, “Even if they were to forget,” basically impossible, right? “I will never forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

Well, Jesus has inscribed you on the palms of His hands. Literally, His arms were pulled apart from Him. Nails were driven into Him to pay for all those sins, the sins that we commit that we want God to forget about, the sins that maybe we said we want our glory to shine through them. And just as remarkable, Jesus, after He died, rose again, triumphant over sin, death, and the devil. And those three deaths I talked about earlier? Jesus has undone all of those three deaths.

That first one, right? Jesus is going to stand on the last day and say, “Come out of the grave.” So your body will be made alive, and you will be raised from the dead incorruptible. You’ll be just like Him, never perishing, in perfection.

Through faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven and God will never forget every good action you’ve done. Those actions of love for your neighbor, for your spouse, for your child, God will not forget you. God be praised for this gift, for this antidote, for this solution to those three deaths.

Amen.

Matthew 5:3

Watch on YouTube

The Beatitudes are probably the most famous section of Jesus’ teaching. These nine statements of blessings on those who the world would consider otherwise. We see the great inversion in the Kingdom of God, how the world and its expectations are turned upside down. But what do the Beatitudes actually mean? Jesus uses some pretty dense, tight language that invites us to sit with it, meditate on it, unpack it, see the parallels in the rest of Scripture. Ultimately, how we interpret and view the Beatitudes is going to impact how we interact with the rest of Jesus’ teaching ministry as well. They come at the beginning of Matthew chapter 5, right at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. They provide this bridge, this invitation to Jesus’ teaching. And as we’ll see, all of them point to the blessings that have been given to believers. We read the first Beatitude written in Matthew 5:3.

Jesus said,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Now, we all know what it means to be poor. If you’re poor, you don’t have the resources or materials that you need. You’re unable to make ends meet. You ultimately need to rely on someone else for help and assistance. But what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Jesus isn’t talking about physical or material poverty here, but a kind of spiritual poverty.

But I think we can draw along the same lines to flesh that out.

The poor in spirit are those who are spiritually without resources, unable to help themselves. By nature, all of humankind is dead in sin. If we were able to stand before God on our own merit and standing, we would justly be condemned. Poor in spirit is a condition which all of mankind has inherited. Whether we recognize it or not, we are all poor in spirit. But just as this condition infects all of humankind, we see also the blessing and the free gift that is offered.

To all those who are poor in spirit, Jesus offers riches, a kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. We see the picture there, how He’s playing on those images. To the poor beggar, is given wealth and vast resources, riches beyond our wildest imaginations, and so it is with us.

Just as all men are poor in spirit, unable to help ourselves, Jesus freely offers to all men the riches of His grace.

By His death and resurrection, He won for us and freely offers us the forgiveness of sins, His grace and His mercy.

This free gift, these riches are available to all, readily available, freely offered, this free gift.

We have blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven now in this life as we receive Christ through faith, and we look forward to the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the life to come. To us who are poor in spirit, God has bestowed the riches of His grace, the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen.

1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 2:22

Watch on YouTube

So it’s the season for scary movies, for Halloween decor, for haunted hayrides, and all of those things.

How are you with those? Do you like those things? Do you not like those things?

I gotta be honest, I’m not really into the whole, like, scary movie thing. Part of it is because I know that with some of these movies, they’re actually dipping into some things that aren’t games. They’re, they’re real. Now, don’t get me wrong. If you like scary movies or whatever, good for you. But for me, I realize there’s some real stuff that’s going on in our world though that’s kinda… it’s scary. It’s kinda tough to think about some of the spiritual realities that are out there.

But while they can be scary, guess what?

We don’t need to be intimidated.

There’s a verse that speaks to this in 1 Peter chapter 5, and it’s a verse that I didn’t really understand until I was actually at the zoo one time. We were at the lion exhibit, and there was a sign about why the lion marches around his exhibit, and he was he was marching around the perimeter, and he was roaring. And they were explaining that the lions will walk around their territory and roar as, like, an intimidation tactic to say that, “This is my territory, and you don’t belong here.” And after I saw that exhibit, then this verse from 1 Peter chapter 5 hit me in a very different way. It said,

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 ESV)

So that picture then of a roaring lion prowling around is a roaring lion who is looking to intimidate you, to say, “This is my territory, not your territory. You don’t belong here.” And that’s what the enemy will sometimes do to us. He will try to intimidate us and scare us. But don’t forget, while you and I were underneath the power of the enemy, Ephesians 2 chapter 2 makes this very clear, you are no longer.

Our Savior Jesus, when He came into this world, He took on that enemy. He went into the wilderness, and He withstood the temptation of the enemy in the wilderness. And throughout His ministry, again and again, we see Him driving out demons. People who were bound by demons for years, Jesus set loose, and He bound those demons. He cast them away. They were nothing compared to Him. When Jesus died and rose again, He defeated the powers of darkness. The spiritual forces in this world do not stand a chance because Jesus is everything you and I were meant to be, but laid down His life, defeated those powers with His love, His life, His death, and with His resurrection, He has given you new life and authority and power over them.

Speaking of the book of Ephesians, if you go to Ephesians 2 chapter 2, to the end of Ephesians, in verse 22, it says,

In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22 EHV)

The God of all creation dwells in you. When you’re brought to faith in Christ, when you’re baptized into Christ, you are washed with Christ. God lives in you. When you and I take the bread and the wine, we take the body and blood of Christ, God Himself lives in you. So these powers out there in the world, they might look scary and intimidating, but if they are no match for God, and God lives in you, then they are no match for you.

You can have fun and to watch a, you know, movie. Maybe the adrenaline gets you going, it gets you a little scared. But really, you do not need to be afraid this season or any, because they are no match for the God who lives inside of you.

1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-15, 17-20, 13

Watch on YouTube

Examining the 12 disciples of Jesus, one finds an astounding level of variety in their personalities, their skills, their habits, their goals. And Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, says this is actually by design with the disciples and in the church today.

He writes,

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. Furthermore, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not on that account cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has arranged the members in the body, each and every one of them, as he desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many members, yet one body. For by one Spirit we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free people, and we were all caused to drink one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-15, 17-20, 13)

We see the disciples sometimes using their personalities, their skills, their habits, their goals for sinful purposes, but brought into this service to Christ. Christ offered his body on the cross to pay for all of our sinful uses of the gifts and qualities God has given us. And Scripture says that Christ has taken away the reign of sin and death in our bodily members, and that includes everything we have, who we are, and instead has replaced it with a rule of righteousness over us. We belong to someone different now that we’ve been baptized into Jesus’ body. We have a different identity.

But my encouragement to you is just as Jesus used that variety of disciples to accomplish the purposes of his kingdom, whatever personality, skill, habit, goal you bring, God also calls you to repent of any sinful ways you’ve used that for your own personal ambition or in opposition to his Word. And instead, through Christ, he forgives those sins and he brings you under his reign and rule so those members and you as a member of the body of Christ would serve his purposes for righteousness. As varied as the disciples were, so varied is the church today, and yet each and every one of us Christ calls to use our individual gifts for his purpose.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

Watch on YouTube

Stories can be pretty fun. Stories can be really interesting, and stories can be really compelling. But have you thought about the stories that are being told in our world today, and the stories that we tell ourselves in our own heads? And just because a story is interesting or even compelling, it doesn’t make that story true. If you look around the world today, there are stories that are being told that about history or about the movements in our world, about what is good, what isn’t good, and they can be told pretty well in pretty interesting, compelling ways. But we need to ask, okay, does that story actually match the truth of God’s Word? Does that story that’s going on in my head about who I am and how I should relate to other people, does that actually match what God says?

Consider Second Timothy four, three to four. It says,

For there will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires. They will also turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

to false stories. There are stories in our world about progression and just where the world’s going and saying, “You should get on board with what the world is doing.” And that might sound good, but while the world may be doing it is actually what God says in His Word. Is that big picture story of what He created us for and what He has planned for the world?

There can be stories that develop even within the Church, a story that sounds good, but actually it’s just scratching our itching ears. For instance, sometimes I know and have conversations with Christians, it can be really easy for us to talk about what’s wrong with everyone else out there while pumping ourselves up, which does that really fit what God would have us do when God actually would have us first and foremost confess our own sin, trust in Him, and then lovingly and with care talk to others and share what His truth says with others? And there can be stories that go in our own heads, stories that say that one pump us up with self-righteousness or maybe the opposite, stories that say, “I better do good enough so God loves me. I’ll never be where I can be feeling good about who I am and how I relate with others ’cause I just mess up and mess up and mess up. God has no plans for me. I don’t have anything to offer.”

All of those things that we can have in our heads, you know, “I can’t be used part of God’s plan because I’m not gifted like this person,” those are stories that go on in our heads. But check them all with what God’s Word actually says. God’s Word says that you are right with Him simply through believing in Christ, that if you have been brought to faith in Christ, the Spirit has given you that faith, which means the Spirit lives inside of you. The scriptures say that the Spirit now is working in you. God doesn’t need big impressive things in this world to do His work. Actually, He often chooses the surprising, the weak to shame the wise. God’s ways are so different than the stories that the world often tells us, and even the stories in our own heads.

So think about what story you’re reading, watching, listening to, even telling yourself today, and ask yourself, “How does this story fit with the truth?” Because God’s Word is full of His truth. It tells us the true story, the story of a God who created us to partner with Him, to have life with Him, who even when we turn away from Him, He enacted a plan to set us right with Him again. Jesus has brought that plan forward, living the life you and I were meant to live, dying for us and rising again. We are now filled with His Spirit as we walk as children of light in this world, and there will be a day that Jesus returns and sets it all right. Of course, there’s much more to the story than all of that. The Bible is full of it. But you and I get to discover that story, remember that story, and live that story. Check the story.

1 Corinthians 15:10

Watch on YouTube

After the death of Judas Iscariot and his replacement with Matthias, our Lord was still not done calling apostles. There’s one more significant individual who’s added like a kind of attachment onto the 12, and this is Paul, who calls himself an apostle untimely born. Now, the calling of Paul illustrates something important about the disciples and about all Christians. Paul was not seeking Jesus. Quite the opposite, he was seeking Jesus’ followers to imprison them. He was a Pharisee, but believed that serving God would mean snuffing out this new Christian church. Paul later, by his own confession, calls himself a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent man.

Some of the other disciples could give us the impression that Christ called them because they were worthy. They measured up. They met some standard. Therefore, we might think we have to measure up and meet some standard before Christ will accept us or use us in his church.

Paul illustrates that we will all end up opposing God’s will on our own. You know, Paul also had the name of Saul, which reminds us of that first king of God’s Old Testament people, Saul, who started out trying to be faithful to God’s word as Paul did as a Pharisee, but ended up failing and actually opposing God’s will, just as Paul did. And that would be our fate too.

The risen Christ confronted Paul while Paul was traveling to Damascus to further persecute Christians, convinced him that he was truly the Lord. Paul believes and is baptized, and not only did this sinner become a justified saint, but the persecutor became a preacher. Paul’s life becomes a sermon on grace. He writes in 1 Corinthians 15,

By the grace of God, I am what I am, (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Paul would go on to plant churches, preach the gospel in all kinds of places. He wrote these inspired letters which make up, by word count, almost a quarter of the New Testament, Romans through Philemon in your Bible. And in those letters, we get some of the clearest expressions about sin, justification, how we are saved, the person of Christ, the sacraments, the end of the world, and the Christian life. So be assured that your worthiness, too, does not depend on what you’ve done for God, but alone on Christ’s mercy, who lived and died to win you forgiveness and righteousness before your Father.

And be assured that in all times, God has only used in his church this one class of people, which includes Paul and it includes you, sinners saved by grace.

1 Peter 2:9, Colossians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 12:7

Watch on YouTube

So if you look in the mirror, what do you see? How do you think about yourself? And when you enter a room, what do you bring? What do you have to offer? What can the world see in you?

Now, on the one hand, what do people see and what should we see? We can see that we we’re imperfect.

We have sinned in different ways. And so when we enter a space, do we bring that sin with us? Do we do that sometimes? Yeah.

Is everything that we contribute to a group of people going to be positive?

No.

But that’s not all we see. Think about 1 Peter 2:9.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [1 Peter 2:9]

See, when you look in the mirror, you can see that you are someone who was in darkness, and yes, we still have things sometimes that we do that match the darkness, but you’ve been chosen. You’ve been called out. You have been brought out of the darkness into God’s light.

When God the Holy Spirit sparked that faith in your heart, that is a faith that believes that Jesus entered into the darkness for us, that he took our sin from us, that he died on that cross and rose again to give new life to us. And so now, through faith in Christ, you are a person of light.

And when you and I enter a room, and we enter that room as someone who, yes, we were part of the darkness, but that’s not who we are anymore. When we are honest about how we have fallen short, but confident in how Jesus is everything that we were meant to be, when we celebrate him and can have full confidence that God is with us today and has given us life for eternity, we proclaim his praises in a world that is dark.

We are people of light in a world of darkness, and when you go wherever you go, you bring that light with you. Not only that, think about what Colossians 3:10 says. It describes how we have

put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in knowledge, according to the image of its Creator. [Colossians 3:10]

We were created to be in the image and the likeness of God, to be able to live in a way that showcases his character, his goodness, his love. And you and I now, by the power of the Spirit, are being renewed in that image. God the Holy Spirit gives us little glimpses of what we were meant to be. And when we live our faith, when the Spirit moves through us, we are actually bit by bit being renewed in the way we live, that we actually start to live in a way that starts to look like God, which means then when you enter a room, when the Spirit works in you, the people around you can actually catch glimpses of God too. Not that you’re God. Don’t want to make that confusion. But when God the Spirit renews you to begin to live like him and to live in his image, you actually start to show the world the image of God, of what God looks like.

And then think about this one, 1 Corinthians 12:7.

Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [1 Corinthians 12:7]

Manifestation describes something that is seen, that is visible, right? So 1 Corinthians 12:7 says that each person has a way that God the Holy Spirit is visible. So when God the Holy Spirit empowers you to live out your faith, to use your God-given gifts, actually the people around you as you are using those gifts, as you are living out your faith, are catching glimpses of God the Holy Spirit working through you.

So what do you see when you look in the mirror? Beyond the sin and those things, those broken things, of course we see those things, but actually those are not the primary things that you and I should see. Because you were in darkness, but you’ve been called out now to the light to proclaim him, to show his light. You are being renewed in his image. The Spirit shows up in you. That’s what you can begin to see, and actually when you enter a room, you and I, we can have a sort of humble boldness, humble audacity even, that not that I’m thinking, “Oh, look how good me,” but actually the very opposite, that when God the Holy Spirit is working in me, whether it’s proclaiming the gospel, whether it’s the Spirit moving through me, that actually the world can catch a glimpse of God as God works through me. That’s what you bring into a room.

Watch on YouTube

Judas Iscariot has become a cultural code word for betrayal. We don’t know the circumstances of how Judas became a disciple. We do know from John chapters 12 and 13 that he handled the group’s money bag, and unbeknownst to the other disciples, he stole from it. John even brings out the contrast between that attitude and Jesus’ attitude and his ministry of selfless sacrifice and generosity. Judas, of course, is most well-known for betraying Jesus, for contracting with Jesus’ opponents to have Jesus arrested at an opportune time. But when Judas realizes that these opponents are gonna put Jesus to death, he is remorseful. He is crushed by his sin. He tries to return the money, but then in his despair he commits suicide. He dies in unbelief. He hangs himself.

Now, Judas very likely was a believer at one time, and he certainly wasn’t predestined by God to die in unbelief. God knew that Judas would take this action. But Judas’ case even illustrates how deep and thorough Jesus’ sacrifice was. Judas could have brought about the death of God’s Son through his treacherous betrayal, and yet on the other side of Easter, he could have found that the death he brought about actually paid the penalty for his sin of betrayal.

We have a similar case in Simon Peter, who didn’t lead to Jesus’ death in that way, but did deny knowing Jesus. He denied Christ when Christ was being put on trial. And he’s also sorrowful and remorseful, but on the other side of Easter, he is restored and forgiven, and given a place of great leadership as if to say, “You, Peter, have a deep insight into my grace. You need to be the one leading in telling this to others.”

That could have been Judas’ future, and his tale is a cautionary one for us. You know, our sins also have brought about Jesus’ death, in that his death paid the penalty for our sins. He suffered the punishment for them, but he exhausted that punishment from God. So no matter how deep you’ve fallen, no matter how shameful your sin, keep the faith. Find yourself in Christ, who risen from the dead proclaims even that sin is forgiven by God.

Now, after the death of Judas Iscariot and after Jesus later ascends into heaven, the disciples choose someone to replace him among the 12 to bring that number back up to 12. His name is Matthias, and he would have been also an eyewitness to all Jesus did, though he wasn’t one of the 12 originally. But clearly the disciples are very careful to maintain that number because they understand themselves to be, the leaders of the true continuation of God’s people, modeled after the 12 sons of Jacob. The head, the spiritual leaders of a new 12 tribes of God’s people, the Christian Church, which is founded on this conviction that Christ’s sacrifice for sin has no end.

1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Peter 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Esther 4:14

Watch on YouTube

You’ve been carrying a lot, and it’s pretty heavy. Trying to be strong for everyone and everything, trying to figure out what to do next, how to work this all out, and feeling like if you don’t do it, if you don’t make it happen, everything is going to fall apart. Oh, and on top of that, you’re struggling with your own inner wrestlings, with your own failings, your own sin, your shame, and your guilt. You’ve been carrying a lot, but do you have to?

Do you have to carry all of this?

What does God say? Does God say that’s on you, that’s your burden? He doesn’t. I mean, think about 1 Corinthians 6:11.

It says,

And some of you were those types of people. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

Did you notice how it says, “And some of you were those type of people”? Yes, we were stuck in our sin, our guilt, and our shame, but that’s not who you are. You were washed. Jesus took your sin on himself. He absorbed it. He paid for it. As far as God’s concerned, it all died there with Jesus. And when you think about that perfect life of Christ, how he rose again to new resurrection life, you now, as someone who is baptized into Christ, have been clothed with Christ. God sees you through that perfect life of Christ. You are clean. You are washed. There’s no shame for you to carry. There’s no guilt for you to hold on to. There’s no need to beat yourself up. You have forever life with God and a new life with him even today, so you don’t need to carry guilt or shame. And when you think about all the things going on in your life, do you need to carry that? 1 Peter 5:7 says,

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. [1 Peter 5:7]

You don’t need to carry what’s all going on in your life and your world. He says cast it on Him. Put it on Him. He will carry it. Trying to figure all those things out, that weight of, “Okay, how is this going to work?” Proverbs 3:5-6,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. [Proverbs 3:5-6]

When you’re trying to be strong for everyone and everything, remember 2 Corinthians 12:9,

And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will be glad to boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may shelter me. [2 Corinthians 12:9]

You don’t need to be strong for everyone. Actually, in your weakness is when you really experience God’s strength. And what about that feeling of, “Okay, so many people are depending on me. If I don’t do it, if I fail, then it all falls apart”? One of the things I love about the account of Esther in the Book of Esther is that she is told,

If at this time you keep totally silent, relief and deliverance for the Jews will spring up from somewhere, but you and the house of your father will perish. Who knows whether you have become queen for a time like this! [Esther 4:14]

Now, there’s some significant things if she doesn’t step up. He says you and your father will perish, so that’s… is weighty. But notice it started off by saying, “If at this time you keep totally silent, relief and deliverance for the Jews will spring up from somewhere.” So even if she didn’t step up, God would still carry out his plan. He would still rescue his people. He would still move things forward for bringing a savior. He didn’t depend on Esther, but he did invite Esther to be part of what he was doing.

God never asked us to be God. He actually just invites us to trust him and be part of what he is doing. It’s not on you to make sure all of this works. That’s always on God. He just invites you to be part of the work he’s doing. So what are you carrying today? Think about what you’re carrying. Think about what is heavy on your shoulders, on your mind, on your heart, and ask yourself, ask God, look to his Word, “Do I really need to carry all that?”

Romans 13:1

Watch on YouTube

The 2nd Simon is only mentioned in lists of the disciples. Therefore, the main focus on him comes from this defining label given to him, the Zealot, Simon the Zealot. We think this most likely refers to his political orientation. The Zealots were a political religious group in Israel around the time of Christ. And here’s what a Roman Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us about them.

“They agree in all other things with the Pharisees, but they have an indestructible attachment to liberty and say God is to be their only ruler and Lord.”

So they’re fervent Bible-believing people, but they are resistant to any Roman or Greek influence on Jewish life, and they would sometimes participate in armed rebellions against those ruling authorities. So where were the Zealots right? Where were they wrong? Well, Scripture is very clear that we are to obey and honor the established authorities over us in the world because God works through them to provide us a certain level of peace and order, justice, and prosperity, even if those rulers themselves are not Christian, may participate in inmoral things, or promote things that go against God’s Word. Here’s what Paul wrote in Romans 13,

Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. [Romans 13:1]

Remember, Paul is writing that in reference to the very same Roman government the Zealots were trying to overthrow. But the Zealots did have a valid concern. There was always this tension about how much the Jewish people, believers in God’s Word, could integrate into these cultures in which they lived, in this case, the Roman Greek culture, and still remain faithful to God’s Word. And man, is that an evergreen question. We still struggle today as Christians to ask, how much can we really participate in and accept our American, Australian, Canadian, Irish culture, whatever it is, and still take it captive to God’s Word and remain faithful to him? So that was a valid concern.

What I really want us to focus on from Simon is that we all live, or we Christians, both live as believers in the spiritual kingdom, but also as citizens in the political sphere.

And just as we find a variety of personalities and socioeconomic levels, professions among the disciples and in the church, we should also expect varying political convictions. We can be faithful to God’s Word and yet may have different opinions about how we should order human life in the world in the most effective way. Now, what Christ does convict us of is making politics into an idol, a form of salvation. If I can just get this political program or this political figure enacted or in power, everything will be great. It’ll be heaven on Earth. Well, no. All of this is still infected with sin, serves only an earthly purpose, and Christ comes so that we would not have ultimate faith in our political goals, but in him, who gives eternal treasures, the gifts of heaven and forgiveness of sins, peace with God. And so he tells us, Don’t sacrifice what is heavenly and eternal for what is earthly and temporary.

But the final point I want to make is though Simon is known as the Zealot, and this might have been as much to distinguish him from Simon Peter as anything else, I expect that his political views softened over time, so that he who was once so zealous for a renewed, fervent Jewish kingdom now turn that zeal toward promoting the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of Christ.