Don’t Call me a Sinner!
Matthew 9:9-13
“I don’t think I am a sinner. Sinners are bad people. Hitler comes to mind. He was bad and evil and when he died I think he went straight to hell. Straight to hell! He deserved hell. There are lots of people I hear about in the news that are sinners. They are real bad. There are the rapists and the child predators and the murderers. They deserve all the judgement that God is going to give and they won’t be in Heaven. I am not like these bad people. I try to be good and I try to live by the Golden Rule. There are thousands of people just like me. I am sure that God is not worried about us and will be happy to let us into Heaven.
What did you say? Haven’t I once in a while done something bad? Well, little things. I mean, compared to Hitler I am sure God didn’t even take notice. What did I do? Now that is getting just a little bit personal. I am sure you and I have done about the same kinds of things. Maybe we cheated in school and maybe we grabbed a candy bar from the store when we were kids. And probably we both did some things on a date we maybe shouldn’t have done. But those aren’t bad things. Those are things that we all do. God isn’t holding that against us. What kind of God would bother with the normal stuff we all do as we grow up? OK. I stand corrected. I didn’t stop doing some of those little things when I became an adult. But I haven’t hurt anybody.
Let me get this straight. You want me to list all my normal bad things on a piece of paper? I am not sure I want to list everything I might have done that were a little bit bad. No. I am not saying I am feeling guilty about them. I just don’t want to let them be on a piece of paper. What if my wife sees the list? Or my kids? What would they think?”
And so the argument begins to fall apart the more this person talks. It isn’t that this person hasn’t done bad things. That isn’t the issue. Rather, this person doesn’t want to think his bad deeds will be held against him or her. As he looks around at other people he can always find evil people. He is not like that. Therefore he isn’t so bad. And not being so bad means that God is OK with him. And when he gets to Heaven he will be allowed in.
But I don’t think God thinks much of this argument. For one thing God is not bad. He is not evil. I would even go so far as to say that God is Holy. He is perfect. He has never done evil and never done bad. He has no evil motives. He never tries to do something that is less than noble and pure. He lives in Heaven and this Heaven is perfect. It is everything this earth is not. That is why it is Heaven. It is a wonderful place of beauty and orderliness. It is ruled by perfection. There is nothing sneaky going on in the corners of Heaven. People aren’t fighting and hurting each other in Heaven.
Can the person mentioned above be allowed to enter Heaven? I don’t think so. On his list are some bad things. Not big bad things but nonetheless they show up if you suddenly step into Heaven where there is no bad – not even a little bad. If God were to allow this person who has a little bit of bad in then a smudge appears. Now add a few more people with slight smudges and the color of Heaven begins to lose its shine. It is a conundrum that cannot be allowed in Heaven.
God says that the bad – little, big, small, enormous – is sin. Hitler sinned. The rapist sinned. The student who cheated on the exam sinned. It may appear that these shouldn’t be judged by the same standard. The student is not Hitler. And God probably doesn’t look at the sinning student in the same way as he looks at Hitler. But the problem is that no sinner can enter Heaven because the contimanation would break the system of Heaven down. Do you want to go to Heaven and find out it is not perfect? Do you want to live in eternity in another system that is like earth with all it problems?
Would it surprise you to know that you are a sinner and that by accepting this means you are closer to getting into Heaven than you thought possible? Jesus said he came to save sinners. You need to admit you are a sinner in order to be saved. And part of being saved is being saved from living in eternity in hell because you couldn’t get into Heaven because of your sin.
I have a story about Matthew in the Bible that might help you understand that we are sinners and Jesus came to save sinners.
What do you know about Matthew? The name is a Hebrew name so he was a Jew. In Hebrew it means “Gift of God.”
Since 1975, "Matthew" has remained in the top 10 list of most popular names chosen for new-born babies in the United States. Additionally, since 1981, "Matthew" has remained among the top 4 most popular; peaking at the number 2 spot in both 1994 and 1996.
We humans like to rate people. Who was the most famous Disciple? It wasn’t Matthew. I suppose Peter would be at the top of the list. He was the loudest and was into everything. He was always talking and trying to take over and tell everyone what to do. HE was an extrovert. James and John are famous. They are even called the Sons of Thunder and were the quickest to get emotional and hot-headed. Judas Iscariot is famous but for the wrong reasons. He betrayed Jesus and thus became well known in the pages of the Bible and down through history.
Matthew only makes one appearance on the stage where we can see him. Only one appearance isn’t very many. It is hard to know what he did or when he did it. This story in Matthew 9 is his one and only time to step forward into the spotlight. There are 4 other times he is mentioned in the New Testament but those 4 are in the listing of the 12 Disciples. And in those lists he is way down the list – coming in at the 8th spot and 9th spot.
And yet he is well known as a Disciple of Jesus. The one look we get to see of Matthew is familiar to many of you. He was a tax-collector and was sitting at the custom house or tax collecting booth. Jesus walks up to him and asks him to get up and leave his booth and follow him. He did. He invited Jesus to his home. He then became an official Disciple of Jesus.
The other reason he is well known is because he wrote the first book in our New Testament. The Book of Matthew is the creation of Matthew, the tax collector. He decided to compile a book about Jesus. He wanted to tell his fellow Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah. He was Who the Jews had been looking for throughout their history. Matthew wanted to tell about his life and his miracles and his teachings. He wanted to tell about why he died. He wanted to tell about the resurrection. For generations, Christians have been enjoying this book that the Apostle Matthew wrote for us.
I want to ask Matthew for permission to refer to him as a sinner. If he were here and could respond what would he say about my request?
1. Matthew was a Sinner
A.) Jesus said he was a sinner.
Jesus said he was a sinner. In Matthew 9:13Jesus says that he didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners.
“I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
He had just walked up to Matthew and asked him to follow him. He called him forth. He sought him out. He wanted Matthew to become a believer in Jesus. And since he just said he came to call sinners that would include Matthew as a sinner. Matthew is a sinner.
Now Matthew could have been insulted. He could have taken offense at this. He could have said that he may be a tax-collector but it was an honorable profession. Maybe the High Priest and his buddies didn’t like it that he was working for the Romans but the Romans weren’t that bad. Look at the benefits of Rome. Look at the road system. Look at the court system. Look at the improvements in the water and sewer superstructure. It takes money to develop the structure by which society can function. He is simply collecting taxes to make the structure work. Yes, there were bad tax-collectors. But they were the minority. You can’t judge an entire profession by a few ‘bad apples.’ He was an honorable man. He did his job and he did it to the best of his ability. That could have been his attitude. So, when Jesus said he was a sinner he could have wrapped his robes of self-righteousness around him and refused the offer from Jesus to follow him. After all, he was not a sinner.
But Jesus said he was a sinner. Would he agree?
B.) Matthew agreed that he was a sinner.
He didn’t argue with Jesus. He understood his sin. And when Jesus brought it to light he bowed his head in shame. Yes. Jesus is right. I am a sinner. I doubt that Matthew ever went back to being a tax-collector. He became a follower of Jesus and a Disciple.
One of the things that Matthew became was a collector of facts about Jesus. He was probably an educated man – at least in the Roman way of being educated. He was good at figures and money and accounting. He was used to keeping accurate and detailed ledgers as they related to the books in the tax-collecting offices. He didn’t stand in front of the group of Disciples like Peter did. He didn’t become the emotional ‘in your face’ like James and John. He didn’t become a great pastor like John or a famous missionary like Paul. What he could do was compile the facts of the life of Jesus and collect his words and write a logical and consistent Book. We have been enjoying his accounting and writing skills for over 2000 years as we read the Gospel of Matthew.
And he was willing to let us know that he was a sinner saved by the touch of Jesus on his life. In Matthew 26:28 he tells us what Jesus did and said one evening in the upstairs room of a house in Jerusalem. He took the bread and said it was his body that he was going to give for our salvation. Then he tells us that Jesus took a cup of wine and offered it to each of the Disciples (including Matthew) and said,
“Drink this cup, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
And as Matthew took the cup and drank the wine he did it as a sinner who needed forgiveness from Jesus.
C. The Pharisees said Matthew was a sinner
You hear them saying this in Matthew 9:11. After Jesus went up to Matthew at his tax-collector booth and asked him to get up from what he was doing and follow him there had to be lots of conversation going on between the two of them. At some point Jesus ended up at his house. That would have been a very interesting discussion to listen to as Jesus talked to him and Matthew listened and asked questions. After all, Jesus was asking Matthew to leave his profession and spend years following Jesus around the countryside and into the villages. Talk about a career change.
Matthew then organized a big dinner and invited his friends and fellow tax-collectors. The whole point was to introduce everyone to Jesus. At some point the local religious leaders heard about where Jesus was and some Pharisees came to check it out and found Jesus having supper with these tax-collectors.
They couldn’t believe that Jesus would do this. Everyone knew the reputation of these tax-collectors. Religious Jews did not associate with them. They shunned them. And they labeled them – sinners.
I want to use what Luke says about sinners in Luke 24:46. It is very important that we understand that when we talk about Jesus we must also talk about sinners.
One of the last things Jesus said following his resurrection and just before he ascended into Heaven is this:
“Jesus went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, "You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses. (Luke 24:46-48)
2. Am I a sinner?
A. Jesus says I am a sinner
This may seem obvious to most of us. I suppose it is something that I have been taught all of my life because I grew up in a Christian home. My parents taught me right and wrong. They based it on the Bible. They taught me that to use God’s name in vain was a sin. They taught me that stealing from other people or from the grocery store was a sin. They explained that if I cheated at school I was sinning and being bad. They told me that lying was a sin. All of these things were in the context that God didn’t want me to do these bad things and when I did them I was a sinner.
And do you know what?! I did some of those things. And I had guilt. And I knew it was sin. That is why I have never had any trouble understanding that I am a sinner.
B. Some people don’t think they are sinners.
I am thinking about a common barometer of human behavior. The barometer comes from looking at other people for comparison. They look at what others do and because they don’t do those things they don’t think they are sinners.
Lets say I listen to the story of the man who kidnapped the young boy in Missouri a few weeks ago. I read about his holding a boy for 4 years after kidnapping him when he was just 11. Now that is an evil man. He is a sinner.
Am I like him? NO. I have never done this. I can’t imagine doing it. I am nothing like that man. If I compare myself to him then I am not a sinner.
If you bring up the fact that I cheated on an exam in high school I will remind you that I was a teenager then. I was under pressure to pass that class. And I only did it a couple of times. Most of the time I was honest and didn’t cheat. Why, I had a friend who cheated on every test. He would write stuff on the inside of his hand on every test. I never did that. Compared to him I wasn’t so bad. I won’t be judged for what I did when I was a teenager.
C. The Pharisees didn’t think they were sinners.
They worked hard to be righteous. Every day they made sure they obeyed the 10 Commandments plus other rules and regulations that they compiled from the Law of Moses. If they didn’t steal anything or lie about anything or curse or cheat anybody or covet something or murder someone then they weren’t sinners.
If God dared to call them sinners they could produce their day’s activities and prove they weren’t sinners. Their actions proved that they were righteous. You can imagine how hard this was to do but they worked hard to do it. They could also be self-righteous by showing how other people’s actions showed they were sinners. Compared to these bad people the Pharisees were good.
You can see this when they called Matthew a sinner. Look at what he does. He cheats in the collection of taxes. He steals from us Jews by asking for too much money. The Romans only ask for a certain amount and then these crooks make us pay more and they keep the profit. Their actions show they are sinners. We don’t do this therefore we are not sinners.
One very dangerous part of this attitude is the rigidity of rules and regulations. Often the rules and regulations become the major aspect of the religion. You see this rigidity to Jesus as he heals a man’s withered hand. Are the Pharisees happy? No. They are upset. They condemn Jesus for doing this.? Why? He did it on the Sabbath. You can’t do things like that on the Holy Sabbath. According to them Jesus had sinned.. He had broken their man-made rules and regulations. They thought it was God’s system. It wasn’t.
D. The Paralyzed Man didn’t come to Jesus because of his sins
I included this story in our Scripture reading today because of the sin that Jesus forgave. But I don’t think the paralyzed man came to have his sins forgiven. I think he was surprised that Jesus brought up his sin. He came because he was paralyzed. This was the most important thing on his mind. His friends didn’t bring him to have his sins forgiven. They brought him so Jesus could heal him.
I bring this into the sermon because I think we often have other things that we think are more important to talk to Jesus about to the neglect of our heart condition of sin.
**I just lost my job is important to talk to Jesus about
**I have just been told I have leukemia is a big thing
But these human problems must not mask our need to have our sins forgiven.
Why did Jesus let himself be hung on the Cross? Why did God’s Son allow humans to kill him?
Was it so that we could have our cancer healed? Or have God’s protection so that our house would never catch on fire or we would never have an earthquake shake where we live?
No. Jesus died on the Cross so that we could have our sins forgiven.
I want you to fully appreciate this scene of the paralyzed man and his sin. He is lowered with full expectation that Jesus is going to heal him. Then Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” I see a puzzled look come over this man’s face. His friends are peering down from the ceiling above and they are surprised. Sins forgiven? Later maybe. Right now we want healing of his paralysis.
But Jesus did the most important thing first – forgiveness of sin.
It isn’t that Jesus isn’t willing to heal and help and restore hurt bodies and tired spirits. But that isn’t the primary purpose of Jesus coming to us. The primary and most important thing is to have our sins forgiven.
3. Jesus Will forgive me?
Jesus will forgive us!!
I told you I was reading a new book by Max Lucado called, “Come to the Sweet Spot.” This illustration was in this book.
He had a daughter in college. He had set up a checking account for her so that she would have some money at school and could be responsible to pay her bills through this account. He was trying to help her learn how to manage a budget. He gave her some money to start the account and she put money into her account through an on campus job she had. He was also on the account as a guarantor to the bank since his daughter was still a miner. One day the bank sent him an overdraft notice on his daughters account. The amount of the overdraft was $25.37. What should he do? Let the bank absorb it? They won’t. Send her an angry letter? Admonition might help her later, but it won’t satisfy the bank. Phone and tell her to make a deposit? Might as well tell a fish to fly? He knew her liquidity. Zero. He knew he could transfer the money from his account to hers. That seemed like the best option. So he did. He replenished her account and paid the overdraft fee as well.
He then called her. He told her about the overdraft. She said she was sorry. But she told him she had no money to repay him at that moment. She was broke.
After a pause she began, “Dad, could you…..” But before she could continue the sentence Dad said, “Honey, I already have.” Isn’t that amazing. Dad had met her need before she knew she had one.
That is what Jesus has done for us. Long before we even knew we needed forgiveness and grace and mercy God made the deposit – an ample deposit.
“Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)
For Christ died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God…” (I Peter 3:18)
Conclusion:
Now there is one more thing to do in this sermon. We need to ask for forgiveness of our sins.
“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.”
