I"I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious" Matthew 9:13
It was 8:15 on a March morning.
Jo Betts unlocked the door of his fish shop.
The sign over the door read:
BETTS AND SON
Quality Seafoods, Wholesale-Retail
Serving Washington for Forty Years
Jo pushed open the door, which squeaked a little, strode in and methodically hung his coat on a peg in the back room.
The place smelled of fish and brine.
Jo took a deep breath, whiffing it.
He had grown to like the smell.
It made him feel at home.
He had inherited the business from his father, who was dead now. Betts and Sons had almost gone under in the 2005 recession-but not quite. They had been one the businesses down on 7th Street, S.E., to survive and now business was thriving.
Later that morning, when business was in full swing, Jo suddenly looked up to see a strange man standing in the doorway. He wore a quite ordinary-looking, blue business suit. But somehow, there was nothing ordinary about the man himself.
It was his eyes Jo noticed especially.
The fish merchant was no poet, but there was something luminous...
yes, that was it-luminous-
and compelling about them.
Jo almost forgot for a moment where he was, what he was doing.
Then he recovered himself...
"What can I do for you, sir"
The stranger smile...and beckoned...
"Jo-come with me
I’ve been searching for you.
I have an important job for you to do.
No one else can do it"
Jo blinked and swallowed hard.
Surely he hadn’t heard right!
He’d never seen this man before in his life.
How could he know his name?
Was the stranger insane?
Jo had been in the process of opening a barrel of cod.
Deliberately he laid down the tool in his hand and almost as if mesmerized without a word of explanation to his employees, he just walked out the door and along the street with the stranger.
Jo Betts had never been a religious man...
He had paid no particular attention to churches.
But that is a story of how he became a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and, in after years, one of the greatest forces for righteousness in the nation’s capital.
Now this story undoubtedly seems very strange to you.
There’s something about it that doesn’t quite make sense.
Would any man in his right mind walk away with a perfect stranger like that?
But don’t you see what I’ve done?
I have simply used a little "sanctified imagination" to translate most of the details of the story of the calling of Peter and Andrew, as told by the fourth chapter of Matthew, into a modern setting.
Does that help you to see what an audacious
daring
venturesome
thing it was that those fishermen did in forsaking everything to obey
Christ imperious summons?
Don’t you see that it must have seemed just as crazy to their contemporaries
to some of their friends and relatives
as it seems to you in the story of Jo Betts?
I have often wondered-if I had been there-
if I had been in their shoes
would I have had the courage to do what they did?
Would you?
Men found it hard to ignore Jesus of Nazareth.
There was something commanding about Him,
kingly,
imperious.
The New Testament says that He "spoke with authority."
As with any man with a magnetic and compelling personality, men
reacted to Him almost violently.
Either they loved Him devotedly
or hated Him cruelly.
They found it difficult to be neutral.
There were, however, a few individuals who could never quite make
up their minds to take the plunge...
to become followers of Jesus.
He demanded so much.
He asked such unequivocal allegiance.
"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me..." Matthew 10:12
"No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" Luke 16:13
"Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father" Matthew 7:21
It is of the men who never really became disciples of Jesus-
those borderline Christians
those "commuters into religion"-
that I want to speak.
How did Jesus affect those men?
There was Nicodemus.
Do you think Nicodemus ever forgot the night when he laid aside his
work for the Sanhedrin, turned down the lamp, and went out under the
stars to ask questions of the Galilean?
Every time the wind moaned or tugged at his robes, he would remember that musical voice:
"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
We know that Nicodemus remembered, for we catch two glimpses of
him later, in the narratives, in which we find him recognizing the Cause
in which he had been invited to enlist-
the Cause that challenged everything good and noble within himself
and yet a Cause that he could not bring himself openly to espouse.
He did stand up in the Sanhedrin and speak a good word for Jesus.
It took courage, and he did it.
But even as so, he was still trying to be on both sides of the controversy.
He could not deny Jesus.
Neither could he confess Him.
He must have seen Jesus die, for he was there to assist in lifting down the broken body from the Cross.
He helped Joseph of Arimethea to bury the One Who had challenged
him to the depths of his being.
And now He was dead.
Nicodemus must have thought, "Now it is too late."
He must have been tormented by the knowledge that there were many
things he might have said while Jesus lived.
There were many things he might have done.
And I suspect that Nicodemus could never forgive himself for being too late, as he looked at the still face of his Friend, and the little smudges that his tears made on the white linen in which he was helping to wrap that broken body.
Then there was Pilate.
Many have speculated about Pilate.
Artist and poets alike have wondered about him afterward.
But I venture that he did not soon forget the Prisoner Who stood before
him one morning-manacled
sleepless
beaten
weary and heartsick
yet with eyes that shone, and an expression that was unforgettable.
The governor had sat forward in his chair, and almost without knowing
it he said aloud "What is truth?"
He did not wait for His answer....
Perhaps the answer came to him every day for the rest of his life.
Perhaps he saw the answer every time he shut his eyes.
Perhaps he heard the answer in the silence of his own empty heart.
Pilate tried to wash his hands of Jesus.
I am sure he is still trying-to wash his hands-but he can never get them clean.
If you had been in Barabbas’ shoes-in the death cell awaiting execution
and had been reprieved, because Somebody else was going to die
in your place,
you would have wondered all the rest of your life why they put Him to death instead of you...
And in your moments of quiet, you would have heard running round the whispering gallery of your soul the question:
"Why did they consider Him more dangerous than me?"
Was the rich young ruler able to go on as if he had never met Jesus?
You remember how he came hurrying to Jesus one day, to ask Him
what he must do to inherit eternal life.
There was enthusiasm there-of a sort.
There certainly was interest.
What he expected Jesus to tell him, we shall never know.
But the record does say that Jesus was attracted to him, for he had almost pleasing personality and was a young man of great promise.
He had every social and cultural endowment,
He had enjoyed fame and privilege.
He had great possibilities of usefulness in the kingdom.
But Jesus saw that the young man himself had never realized, namely, that he was trusting in the wrong things and was too much in love with himself and his position.
"One thing you lack" Jesus had said.
Could he ever forget that?
He never handled money again without hearing the quiet voice of Jesus.
He could never forget the eyes that seemed to look into his very soul that seemed to weigh him in the balance and find him wanting..."One thing you lack."
And we may be sure that with all his money he could never again be satisfied, for he would be tormented by the thought that the one thing he lacked was the most important of all.
Or what about the lawyer...
the smart
glib
self-assured arguer
who asked Jesus: "Who is my neighbor?"
Jesus answered him by telling him a story-
the story of the Good Samaritan,
and made a very simple application when He said, "Go and do thou likewise."
Upon this smug, self-satisfied man, there was laid the challenge to do something, to be somebody.
But we are left to infer that the challenge was one he never met.
I wonder if he was not forever afterward haunted by a picture of a traveler on the Jericho road.
I have named only a few of those gallery Christians, who
stood on the edge of Christianity.
There were others-many others- but those whom I have named have this in common:
They were not weaklings.
Some of them were rich.
Many of them were influential...
They were attractive, with great possibilities...men of promise.
The drifters in our day for the most part are like that.
They too are influential...
powerful...
strong men and women...popular...
attractive as far as their friends are concerned....
well educated...cultured....
Why do they stay on the edge of the crowd?
Why don’t they follow Jesus?
Do you ever puzzle over this?
Do you ever wonder?
There is a text in Matthew that reads: "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:13
As long as it remains in the language of the King James version it not likely to strike fire in the minds and hearts of sophisticated men and women.
Well...read it in a modern translation.
Goodspeed, for example, puts it this way: "I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious."
The world is full of drifters as far as Christ is concerned.
They are not anti-Christian...
not anti-religious...
They simply don’t care much one way or the other.
They are conscious of no great loss.
As long as life goes smoothly, they feel no sense of need.
They don’t have any religion, as they themselves will tell you quickly and frankly enough.
This group is growing in America.
More that 60 percent of all American children are growing up without any religious training of any kind.
We are a secular nation.
These irreligious people say, "I don’t need the church.
What could it do for me?
I’m a decent citizen...
I never break any very big laws...
Pay my taxes
Give some to the Community Chest.
What more do you want?"
Well....here is Jesus saying He came to invite them particularly.
Whether we church people like it or not, we must admit that Jesus made a strong appeal for this type of person....
who never comes to church....
never think of it....
and who will either lift an eyebrow or smile in that particular way when somebody talks about being at church...or coming to prayer meeting.
Yes Jesus liked people-all kind of folks-
red-blooded folks...
for He himself was red-blooded.
We have had enough of the emaciated Christ...
the pale, anemic, namby-pamby Jesus...
the "gentle Jesus, meek and mild"...
Perhaps we have had too much of it.
Let us see the Christ of the gospels...striding up and down the dusty miles of Palestine...sun-tanned
bronzed
fearless
Let us see the white knuckles of the carpenter’s hand as He upset the tables of the money-changers and glared at the racketeers...
Let us feel the terrific dynamic of the personality that walked clear through a lynching mob that sought to throw Him over a cliff.
He strode through then, and no man laid a hand on Him.
That’s the Christ we ought to see.
Let’s see the Christ Who called a spade a spade....and let the chips fall where they might.
Take Jesus out of the perfumed cloisters of pious sentiment,
and let Him walk the streets of the city.
Let’s be honest.
We have nothing to fear.
Let us say boldly that the kind of people Jesus liked best are not the kind that the average church appeals to at all.
We classify people by the families they come from...
the clothes they wear
where they went to school
where they live
and how much money they have.
So that some people are our type-and others are not.
The average person likes to have people of his own social level around him.
I’m sure Jesus does not approve of that.
There were no barriers
no such distinctions with Him.
All men of every race and color are God’s children, and He came to invite them all to be His friends.
Inside the Church itself, there are people who resent the intrusion of those whom they call "outsiders."
I hope they can justify that title before God, for someday they will be called to do so.
We erect barricades to keep people out-God helps us...
God forgives us!
Think of the people whom Christ especially invited to be His friends-
Peter and Andrew, James and John-fish merchants...
Zacchaeus and Matthew-unpopular tax collectors...
Mary Magdalene-once a prostitute
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s chancellor, a society of women...
Saul of Tarsus-an aristocrat, a persecutor of the Church.
The church people could not understand it.
It was a scandal.
"Why eateth you Master with publicans and sinners" asked the Pharisees. Matthew 9:11
And Jesus answered, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick....For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:12-13
At another time He said to the Pharisees:
"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" Luke 15:7
There are thousands of people today who fall into just this category-the ninety and nine sheep whom the Shepard came especially to find.
They seldom-if ever-come to church...oh, perhaps once a year on Easter.
They contribute nothing whatever financially.
They use Sundays for sport and recreation.
They never read the Bible...
They never pray...
They speak of God only in profanity.
They are a pagan lot more or less...
red-blooded
thoroughly sophisticated.
They like a good time...but have never discovered the secret of true happiness.
The pleasures of sin-as the Bible tells us-are very real
and very attractive.
This is the life to which young people are exposed.
This is the life they are tempted to lead...
and some of them are troubled about it.
There is a clash between the ideals in which they have been reared and the standards they find generally accepted in society.
The Church cannot be indifferent to the conflict.
We invite the sophiscates,
the irreligious to join the church,
and we extend to them our fellowship.
But that is not the all-important thing.
The thing that really matters is that they will meet Jesus Christ, and come into contact with Him Who alone can offer them the full life,
the abundant life,
the life that brings out the best in them,
and give them happiness and a peace of mind that cannot be found anywhere else.
I wish I could convince you somehow that it is not the Church I am trying to present- but Christ!
The Church has faults.
That is because it is made up of people like you and me.
We are far from perfect.
The wonder is that the Church has as much influence as it has...and is supported as well as it.
There are a few hypocrites in our churches.
Of course-we all know that.
But there are hypocrites in your club too, and that doesn’t seem to bother you.
There are hypocrites in your lodge, and that doesn’t to keep you away. But hypocrites in the Church seem to be a stumbling block.
We are not offering the Church-but Jesus of Nazareth.
The whole function of the Church, after all, is to introduce people to Christ.
That is our business and it is nothing else.
He himself said: “I came not to invite the pious but the irreligious."
Perhaps that applies to some of you.
He is calling you.
Christ is here-a thousand times more alive than when He walked in the flesh up and down the sun-baked trails of that little land.
He is too big to be shut up in any church or cathedral.
He will burst the seams of any theological robe we tie around
Him.....
No creed can hold Him...
No doctrine or dogma can tell all about Him.
No....He will stride out of here...
and elbow His way through the city’s crowds...
mixing with the irreligious...because He likes them.
They are His kind of men and women.
He wants them.
Red-blooded they are...and He needs red-blooded men and women now.
Vigorous they are. They like life.
That’s why He is so anxious that they should have life...and have it more abundantly.
They laugh and enjoy living...
He wants to hear laughter.
"A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"-that He was...
but it was in order that our joy might be full.
Some of you have drifted long enough,
For a number of years now you have been a casual spectator Christian.
There have been time when you felt prompted to stand up and be counted with those of us who, acknowledging our own sins
our weakness
and our hypocrisy,
and are ashamed of them, nevertheless keep trying, by God’s help to do the things Christ wants us to do.
Have you ever said to the Galilean, "I believe in You
I am with You, come what may?"
Have you ever told Him that?
If you have not, why not do it- now?
