My Easter Story Matthew the Tax Collector 4/8/18 -Intro: -Jesus shows up in the most unlikely places to the most unlikely people. -He did while He was physically on this earth and He does now as the Resurrected King. -People who had no business interacting with Him were given an invitation and pursued by Him. -People that we would look the other way at, he loved and saw with different eyes. -People that we would say are lost causes, Jesus would not have believed us. -People that we would have stepped over and used, Jesus bent down and picked up. -People that we would have justly despised, Jesus would have loved. -Oh, that I were more like Jesus! I said this last week, Jesus has the ability to enter your story and TRANSFORM it in a way that you never thought imaginable. -He does it in a man named Matthew. -Listen to his story from his own hand. -Matthew 9:9-13 (NLT) As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector s booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. 10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with such scum? 12 When Jesus heard this, he said, Healthy people don t need a doctor sick people do. 13 Then he added, Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. -We are going to get into this story, but first I want to show you another story about a man named Andy that Jesus found and that Jesus transformed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -My Easter Story: Andy Meyer --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -The Roman occupation of Israel wasn t just military. -It involved taxation. -Tax collectors had a certain amount they were required to collect for Rome and whatever they collected on top of that they were permitted to keep. -John MacArthur puts it like this: In addition to the poll tax, income tax, and land tax, there were taxes on the transport of goods, letters, produce, using roads,
crossing bridges, and almost anything else the greedy minds of tax collectors could think up. All of that left room for larceny, extortion, exploitation, and even loan sharking, as tax collectors loaned money to those who were unable to pay their taxes. Tax collectors also employed thugs to physically intimidate people into paying and beat up those who refused. (MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Luke 1-5). In other words, they were set up kind of like the mafia. -There was a whole tax collection system. -You had those that did not have contact with the people but instead oversaw or hired out the whole operation from behind the scenes. -You had others that were too greedy to hire someone, so they instead faced the people, sat in a tax collector booth and collected their own countryman s money, unjustly. -They did not care about their reputation. -They only cared about money. -Because of that, Tax Collectors were hated by the Jewish people who thought that God was the only One that they should be paying taxes to. -Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to the people, classified as perpetually unclean and because of that, barred from the synagogues. They were forbidden to give testimony in Jewish court because they were considered to be liars. -They were social outcasts with a capital O. -Would you be mad as you paid them? Would you think about rioting against them? Would you be tempted to spit on these people sitting in the tax booth taking your money (at the least) or in the extreme, murder them in their sleep? -This is the life of Matthew. -His base of operation was Capernaum, the ministry base of Jesus. -Capernaum was the intersection of many commercial roads. -Travel from Egypt to Galilee required going through Capernaum. -It was the center of trade in all directions and had a thriving economy. -And here you have Matthew, sitting in his tax collector s booth as all the people came in. -He may have had a sign above his office that read, The Godfather of Capernaum. -His business card might have read Pay the tax in Capernaum or we will put a cap in you. ----------------------------------------------------------- -Now you have Jesus intersecting this man s life. -Matthew 9:9 (NLT) As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector s booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. -Jesus has just come from healing the paralyzed man lowered through the roof of a house by his 4 friends.
-Jesus is walking along the lakeshore. -What He says to him requires some unpacking. (1) He Saw -If you would just glance over this you would misunderstand this phrase. -It literally means to gaze intently. -Jesus didn t just see him, he looked intently at him. (For how long?) -How many times had Jesus looked at him? (2) Follow Me -Literally Walk My Road. -Matthew knew exactly what He meant. -Leave my old life behind and embrace the life that Jesus has for me. -Think of everything Matthew was leaving behind. -A lucrative, financially profitable career. -Financial security. -How would he make ends meet now? -A reputation of power and control -What would it mean to follow Jesus? -He didn t care. The invitation was there and he was going to take it. (3) Got Up -Literally forsook. -He responds immediately. -No doubt, living in Capernaum, he saw Jesus walk and perform miracles. -No doubt he had heard Him speak over and over about the Kingdom of God. -Holy Spirit gave me insight into this: -Matthew had wanted to follow Jesus for a while. -He just didn t know if he would be welcomed. -And Jesus comes over to him and invites him Follow Me. -With joy he obeyed. ---------------------------------------------------------- -Notice what happens next: -Matthew 9:10 (NLT) Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. -By this description alone, you can tell that Matthew is very wealthy. -His house is large enough to hold and dine all of these people. -Matthew throws a party in Jesus honor. -He invites the only people he knows will come. -Jesus, the disciples, many tax collectors, disreputable sinners.
-What was that scene like? -Call roll Prostitutes? Sorcerers? Demon possessed posse? Drunkards? Liars? Murderers? Son of God? -Why did Matthew throw a party? (1) He Was Announcing His New Life -He was telling everyone that he was quitting his former way of life and that he was going to follow Jesus from now on. (2) He Was Introducing His New Friend -He wanted everyone he knows to meet Jesus - This guy changed my life. He can change yours too. -This was an evangelistic plea. - Leave your old empty life behind and find new life in Jesus. ------------------------------------------------------ -We don t know their response, we only know of the response of the outsiders looking in. -Matthew 9:11 (NLT) But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with such scum? -At this dinner, they are not sitting down to eat. -They are reclining together, leaning on one side and eating food. -This was a sign of intimacy and friendship. -Sharing a table meant sharing a life -This wasn t just a formality. This was dinner with close friends. -You didn t do this back then and you don t do it now. -People in the SAME circles eat with each other. -(I m sure the disciples were even freaked out a bit). -The religious leaders could not understand why Jesus wanted to publicly identify with THESE people. -You and I now know why! That s what the cross is all about! ------------------------------------------------------------- -Notice what He says to them. -Matthew 9:12-13 (NLT) When Jesus heard this, he said, Healthy people don t need a doctor sick people do. 13 Then he added, Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. -Isn t that great? -Here s what He s saying, All these people in this room know that they are terminally ill. They need a heart transplant, and only I am the Good Physician, the Master Surgeon who can perform the surgery. -And then He says to the Pharisees, You too are sick, but you are just too proud to admit it. --------------------------------------------------------------- -2 Things:
(1) Anyone Can Come To Jesus -No one is beyond the saving grace of God. -Jesus centered His ministry on people who understood their lost condition. -Looking at who Jesus dined with and invited into His inner circle is proof of the depth that Jesus is willing to go in order to rescue one sinner, the worst sinner, at the very bottom of humanity. -Eli (5) said this the other day to his mama. - Does Jesus love bad, bad, bad really, really, bad, bad, bad people? -Amy replied, Jesus loves everyone. -He does! (2) We Should Not Prevent People From Doing So Story was of a woman who lived in the dock district of London. She lived with a Chinese man and they had, what was called back then, a half-cast baby; a halfbreed. She was an outcast to society. This woman heard of a lady s Bible study. She decided to go and, in fact, brought her baby with her. She enjoyed it so much that she came back week after week. Finally, however, after a month or two, the priest came to her and said, Ma am, I do not want you to return. The woman looked at the priest with questions in her eyes. He went ahead and said, If you keep coming, these women will never come back to this church. Her eyes filled with tears and the woman said to the priest, I know I m a sinner, but isn t there anywhere that a sinner can go? -Sinners can come here! -Matthew was part of Jesus 12 disciples. -One of the 12 spots was filled with a man that was the most hated man in the town. -Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. -I believe Jesus renamed him Matthew (Gift of God) -The Gospel account you just read was penned by Matthew who wrote the first Gospel. -He never did stop talking to others about Jesus! -Just think what we would have missed if he wasn t allowed to come. ------------------------------------------------------- -Jesus looked intently at Matthew -What s He looking intently at you about? -To leave everything behind and follow Him? Walk My Road -To come to Him? -To love others in the same way He did?
-Bridge Group Questions: 1. What stood out to you most about this week s message? 2. How would you have viewed and treated Matthew? 3. If you were a disciple of Jesus, how would you have viewed the party? 4. Matthew got up at once and followed Jesus? What keeps people from doing that today? 5. In what ways does the church prevent people like Matthew from coming in? 6. What can we do better as a church to be a refuge for sinners?