“JAMES, SIMON, AND JUDE – LESSER KNOWN BUT…”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
If there is one thing we have learned in our verse-by-verse study of Romans, the gospels, and various other NT writings, it is this: God chooses those whom He will save. Much of the professing church denies that. They either reject it outright or they twist it into such a strange concoction of half-truths that it’s nearly impossible to comprehend or even sort them out. But the simple fact is that any serious study of the NT brings the student face-to-face with the undeniable truths of God’s absolute sovereignty in the affairs of men, the predestination of His chosen ones, and the core doctrine of election.

Even verses taken out of context trumpet these truths. Let’s look at just a few of them.
*Mark 13:20 (This speaks of the Great Tribulation just before the Second Coming.)
20 And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days.

*John 5:21 (God decides whom He will save.)
21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

*John 6:37 (The Father gives the chosen ones to His Son.)
37 All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

*John 6:44 (God draws the elect toward Jesus.)
44 No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

*John 6:65 (God permits the elect to come to Jesus.)
65 …no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.

*John 15:16 (Jesus speaking about Who chose whom, and the reason why.)
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit…

*John 15:19 (Jesus speaking about why His children are not at home in this world.)
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world…the world hates you.

*Acts 13:48 (When Paul began preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.)
48 …when (they) heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

*Colossians 3:12 (How the ones God has chosen should conduct themselves.)
12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

*1 Peter 1:1-2 (God always knew those on whom He would pour out His grace.)
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens…who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

Why am I going through all this? Why is it so important that every Christian fully com-prehends and internalizes theses truths? First and foremost, it’s because they are true. But secondly, it’s because every Christian needs to know how valuable he or she is to the God who saved them. Let me ask you this. Does anyone really believe that God would allow His beloved Son to be murdered for people the Father thought were worthless or even of little value? Each one of us has every reason to be encouraged today.

Remember that the vast majority of Christians throughout the history of the church have been regular people, just “folks” like you and me. There have been only a few who have impacted the church and the world to the degree that men like Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, or even John MacArthur have done.

Just like every one of those men, you, Christian, were singled out by God. Every one of the following truths applies to you, no matter how insignificant you may think you are.

• You were known by God before you born.
Jeremiah 1:5
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you… (“…set you apart for Myself”)

• You were chosen to be one of God’s elect and you were predestined to salvation.
Ephesians 1:4-5
4 …He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…

• Jesus died for you to save your eternal soul from the wrath of God to come.
Romans 5:8
8 …God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Timothy 1:15
15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all.

• God gave you the gift of faith not only to believe in Jesus, but to receive Him too.
Ephesians 2:8
8 By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
• God sent His Holy Spirit to take up residence in you and direct your paths.
John 14:26
26 “…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

• God has promised to glorify you for eternity in His presence, when you will see Him as He is.
Romans 8:29-30
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
30 and whom He predestined, these he also called, and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

How can any Christian who knows these things think of him or herself as insignificant or unimportant before God? The only thing that is insignificant or unimportant here is what the world thinks of you. The Apostle Paul’s rhetorical question in Romans 8:31 applies. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (KJV)

Now, knowing how valuable you are to God, will you commit yourself to Him as He has committed Himself to you? He has willingly saved your soul. So the question for each of us this morning is this: “Will you willingly serve Him?”
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II. Text
When Jesus walked this earth He had thousands of followers. They were attracted to His personality, His miraculous deeds, and the obvious truth of what He said. But there were very few of those followers were totally committed to Him. Jesus had many disciples but only a few apostles. What’s the difference? “Disciple” is the Greek “mathētēs.” (math-ay-tes´) It just means “learner.” The word has nothing to do with commitment. You can learn all sorts of things about Jesus but never commit yourself to Him.

“Apostle,” on the other hand, is transliterated from the Greek “apŏstŏlŏs,” (ap-os´-tol-os) meaning “one who is sent.” They were sent because they were committed to Jesus. All of Jesus’ apostles were disciples first. But only a few of His disciples became apostles. They’re the ones who learned their lessons, and they’re the ones He sent out in His name.

In Luke’s gospel there is a marvelous example of three people who were willing to follow Jesus as long as they could do it on their own terms.
They wanted to “hang on” to Jesus. They just didn’t want to be committed to Him.
*Luke 9:57-62
57 And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Permit me first to go and bury my father.”
60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

At first glance it seems that Jesus is being unduly harsh here. But remember, He knew what was in the hearts of these people. In v. 59 the man’s father was alive. He didn’t want to “follow” Jesus until his father had died and he had received his inheritance. A paraphrase of v. 60 might read something like this: “Let the spiritually dead deal with earthly matters. But you, if you are spiritually alive, follow me now.”

In v. 61 the man is simply saying, “I’m not ready to commit to you today. I’ll do it tomorrow.” But as the old song says, “Tomorrow never comes.” And as Paul says…
2 Corinthians 6:2
2 “…now is the acceptable time,” behold, now is the day of salvation…”

The sad truth is that churches are filled with the kind of people Jesus met in Luke 9. They think that commitment is for the pastor, the elders, and those few “super religious” people. But they don’t think they need to commit their lives to Jesus. They just want Jesus for what He can do for them. “I want Jesus to save me. I just don’t want to do anything for Him. I’m glad He died for me. Just don’t expect me to live for Him.” That is to say, “I want a Savior, not a Lord.” But if Jesus is not the Lord of your life, I tell you that He is not your Savior either.

You see? There was the vast multitude of disciples who followed Jesus like groupies after a rock band. They were along for the ride. They came and they went. But there were a few among those who followed Him that Jesus chose to be His apostles. They were the twelve. Well, they were the eleven. We haven’t gotten to Judas yet.

They were committed. They were willing to give up a regular place to lay their heads at night. They didn’t want to go home to wait for their fathers to die so that they could receive their inheritances. They didn’t say, “Not today, Lord. I’ll follow you tomorrow.”
On the contrary, they turned their backs on their old lives and followed hard after Jesus.
Andrew, Peter, James, and John, the fishermen, left their boats and their nets and com-mitted themselves to Jesus. Philip and Nathanael turned their backs on their chosen professions and committed themselves to Jesus. Matthew walked away from his tax booth and committed himself to Jesus. Thomas, whatever it was that he had done for a living, left it all behind and committed himself to Jesus.

And that brings us to the last three apostles: James, usually known as James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was called the Zealot; and Judas (not Iscariot), the son of James.

There’s very little known about these men today. The world considers them to be insig-nficant. But were they? I don’t think so! They were as important and as significant as are you and I. That is not a vain statement. Remember that Jesus did not die for insigni-ficant and unimportant people.

Although we do not know a great deal about James, Simon, and Judas (not Iscariot), there is one thing we do know about them. They were disciples whom Jesus made apostles. And that means they were no less committed to Jesus than were Peter or John or the others. We do know they were among the first preachers of the gospel.

We do know that they will sit on twelve thrones ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel during the Millennial Kingdom (Matthew 19:28). We do know that their names will be written on the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14).

Who is James? He is the son of Alphaeus. The Apostle Matthew’s father was also Alphaeus so it’s possible that they were brothers. However, both names were very common and there may have been no familial relationship at all.

This apostle is called James the Less. “Less” is the Greek word “mikrŏs” meaning “little.” We get the words “micro” and “micron” from it. It could refer to his physical stature. It could refer to his chronological age. He may well have been very young. It could also refer to his influence among the twelve. When you consider the fact that the other James, one of the “Sons of Thunder,” was ambitious, bold, brash, and even explo-sive, it isn’t hard to see that, by comparison, the James the Less was “little.”

But even his relative invisibility implies some things about James. Unlike Peter he did not seek after leadership among the apostles. Unlike the other James and his brother John, this James sought no recognition. Unlike Thomas he asked no critical or probing questions. And unlike Nathanael, this James displayed no unusual insight into the deep truths about Jesus. He was faithful and although the specifics of his work are lost to us here on earth, they are certainly not lost in heaven.

Jesus called him to be one of His apostles, just like Peter and the “Sons of Thunder.”
James the Less is proof that you don’t have to enter a room “mouth first” or be a leader among men like Peter and the other James. The question is, “Where is you heart?” God can use you to accomplish great works of eternal value.
He always has and He always will. Can you be encouraged by that? I hope so.

Who is Simon? Luke 6:15 identifies him as “Simon who was called the Zealot.” It probably means that he was a member of the Jewish sect known by that name. There were four primary groups that dominated Jewish life in the first century. They were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots.

The Pharisees were the religious legalists, the fundamentalists of their day. Religion and tradition were more important than truth. We have people like that today, don’t we?

The Sadducees were the polar opposite of the Pharisees. They were the religious liberals. They were rich and powerful and controlled the Temple in Jerusalem. Religious liberals control much of the professing church today as well, don’t they?

Although the Essenes are not mentioned in the Bible, we know of them through secular history. Both Philo and Josephus tell us they were intellectuals who removed themselves from the mainstream of society, lived in the desert, and studied the Law. They may have been the precursors of the early monastic movement in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Zealots were religious fundamentalists too. But they added a virulent form of mili-tancy to their religious beliefs. They hated the Romans who occupied their country and did not hesitate to use violence and terrorism against them. It does not seem unreason-able to draw an analogy to Islamic terrorists today. The Zealots expected the Jewish Messiah to come wielding a sword and drive their oppressors out of Israel.

So in the beginning at least, Simon would have thought that Jesus was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, not the sacrificial Lamb of God. He expected Jesus to do at His First Coming exactly what He will do at His Second Coming. He will destroy the enemies of God. That’s probably why Simon began following Jesus.

By 70 A.D. the Romans had had enough of the rebellion and terrorism that was being perpetrated by the Zealots. They destroyed Jerusalem and more than 900 Jewish towns and villages. By 72 A.D. the surviving Zealots retreated to the mount of Masada where, after holding off the legions for three months, the Romans entered and found that all 960 Jewish defenders had committed suicide rather than be killed by Roman soldiers.

So we have great insight into the kind of man Simon the Zealot was when Jesus called him to be an apostle. But somewhere along the way, sometime during the three years of Jesus’ ministry, Simon the Zealot became Simon the Christian. It probably doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what kind of a Christian Simon was.

He would have been a man of great fire and passion, intent on doing the Lord’s work whatever the odds against him might be. Listen, that kind of fire and passion, when it is focused and directed by the Holy Spirit, can accomplish truly awesome things for God and His kingdom. Oh, how the Church of Jesus Christ needs men like Simon today!
There is an interesting side note about Simon. After Jesus had returned to heaven, and the church had been born, and the Holy Spirit had filled the apostles, Simon and the apostle Matthew would have come to depend upon and love each other. You may say, “By that time, all of the apostles would have come to depend upon and love each other.” But consider Simon’s and Matthew’s diverse backgrounds and who they were.

Matthew was a traitor to his people. He had “gone over” to the Romans. Not only that, but he had worked for them and against his own people. Matthew was the kind of Jew that the Zealots not only hated but would assassinate if they could. If I may try to draw an analogy, it would be something like two extremists, one from the far-left and the other from the far-right, putting their faith in Jesus, laying aside their extreme views, and uniting themselves together in their Lord and Savior.

Before Christ, Matthew would have run from Simon, and Simon would have chased Matthew down. But after Christ they were united in Him. They had a common purpose and a common goal. And why not? They both loved Jesus above all else.

And that brings us to Jude. Who is Jude? It can be confusing. His real name was Judas. Judas was a common Hebrew name meaning “Jehovah leads.” In Matthew’s gospel he is called “Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus.” Luke identifies him as, “Judas, the son of James,” so as not to confuse him with the other Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. Finally, John calls him “Judas (not Iscariot)” to make it crystal clear that he is an altogether different person.

It seems that Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus were nicknames, not unlike those given to other people based on their physical characteristics or personalities. Thaddaeus means “child of the breast.” He may have been the youngest son in his family or it could mean he was his mother’s favorite. But Lebbaeus means “heart child.” That referred to someone of great moral courage. Putting the two nicknames together, some have speculated that Jude’s family may have seen him as a bit of a “mama’s boy,” while his friends tended to see him as a strong man of great conviction.

While we know little about Jude there is one instance in Scripture where he speaks.
*John 14:21-24 (Jesus is telling the apostles that when He is gone He will send the Holy Spirit.)
21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him (in the form of the Holy Spirit).”

(The clear implication is that Jesus will not disclose Himself to those who do not love Him. This causes Jude to ask…)
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Jesus is saying He knows who loves Him. They’re the ones who obey Him. Conversely, those who do not love Him do not obey Him. His point is that if someone loves Jesus He will show Himself to them. And if not, He won’t. Jude doesn’t understand why Jesus won’t show Himself to everyone. So in vv. 23-24 Jesus repeats His point. He is saying, in so many words, “If there is no interest in Me, if people don’t want to know Me or My Father, I will accommodate them. They won’t know Me.”

Think of a radio station sending out a signal. The signal may be uncluttered, clear, and strong, but if you refuse to turn your radio on, you’ll never receive it. You won’t hear so much as one word. And it won’t be the fault of the radio station, will it? The truth is that Jesus never forces Himself on anyone. If you hear His call you need to respond because one thing you can be sure of is this. He will not call forever. Don’t wait. Don’t be like the one who was willing to follow Jesus until the Lord asked him for a commitment.

In Luke 9:61 the man said, “I’m not ready to commit to you today. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
2 Corinthians 6:2
2 “…now is the acceptable time,” behold, now is the day of salvation…”

Well, what became of the three apostles we’ve talked about this morning who loved Jesus, were totally committed to Him, and willingly laid down their lives for Him? Early Christian tradition maintains that James the Less was beaten to death with clubs in Egypt. It is believed that Simon the Zealot, who was once ready to kill or be killed for his radical views, was crucified in Samaria. Jude’s end is unknown but many in the early church held that he was beaten to death somewhere in Syria.

Yet again we have seen what God can do with simple ordinary people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and committed their lives to Him. Is your faith in Jesus? Do you love Him? When all is said and done, nothing else will matter.

You may be young, or small of stature, or one who lacks influence among your peers, like James the Less. The Lord can turn you into a giant if you will just let Him.

You may be passionate and fiery, totally devoted to some group or to some cause like Simon the Zealot. The Lord can turn that passion and fire toward God if you will turn to Him and let Him do it.

You may be a quiet and gentle, but courageous person like Jude. The Lord can use those qualities to bring glory and honor to Himself. Will you let Him?

III. Conclusion
There is an old story of a famous concert violinist who felt compelled to make an impor-tant point. He advertised that on a certain night he would be giving a concert and would be playing a 17th century Stradivarius violin that was valued at well over $2,000,000.

The night came and the concert was a great success. The audience was thrilled. But as the violinist gave his last bow, he threw the violin down onto the stage and stomped it to pieces. Needless to say, the audience was stunned.

It was only then that he told them the truth. He had used an inexpensive student’s violin for his performance. He then brought out the real Stradivarius and finished the concert. Very few people could tell the difference.

The music comes from the violinist, not the violin. Of course, the violin is the tool in the master’s hand, but it takes the master to use it properly, doesn’t it? Any violin will do when it is played by the right violinist. What’s the point? I think you already get it. Most of us are just inexpensive violins. But, what the Master Violinist can do!

Jesus is the Master Carpenter. He uses all the available tools in His toolbox, and He does wonders with them. James the Less, Simon the Zealot, and Jude are proof of that fact. They were available and they were committed to the Lord Jesus. Look at what He did with them. Are you available this morning?

~ Pray ~