We continue our study of the Gospel (the Good News) according to Luke. Remember that Luke was not one of the first 12 disciples of Jesus Christ; but, he was likely one of the 70 disciples mentioned in the Gospels. Luke accompanied the Apostle Paul in many of the Missionary Journeys. Luke either personally witnessed or interviewed eyewitnesses what he wrote in the Gospel and of course Luke was guided by God the Holy Spirit. God spoke through people and preserved it in writing! What we have in our hands is the Word of God!
Do you have friends that don’t believe in the Bible? Ask them to disprove it! Many scholars have tried to disprove the Bible and they became Believers of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that God speaks through the Bible? God does! Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God and the Only Savior for your sins and eternal hell? Jesus Christ is God and Savior! You see, no matter what we think, the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus Christ is God and Savior. The choice is ours to believe or not believe. But let us be warned, there are consequences to unbelief of God’s Word and Jesus Christ.
We had noted in Luke Chapter 5 that because the Religious Leaders of the Jewish Law did not believe in Jesus Christ and they had judgmental spirits, they were cursed! Let us believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible. Let us pray this together…..
Open your Bibles to Luke 5….
Take note of what time it was for our story today:
Although Israel was under Roman Rule, the Jewish Leaders still had a lot of power. Jesus just started His ministry and the Jewish Leaders were not happy with Him and so they tried to trap Jesus.
There are two main questions to ask this from the passage this morning:
Why would Jesus choose a “tax collector” to be His disciple?
How did Jesus respond to the accusations?
Read along with me Luke 5:27-39……
Why would Jesus choose a “tax collector” to be His disciple? Let’s first note a few things about taxes and tax collectors. Are taxes bad in itself? - Of course not; taxes are normally used for public good. We can read in Luke 20 Jesus was asked about taxes and Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” And in Romans 13:6, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.”
If taxes are good to have, therefore “tax collecting” in itself should not be a problem. But sadly, what was the problem with tax collectors during the time of Jesus??
Taxes and tax collecting were not bad in themselves but the problem during Jesus’ time was that tax collectors made money for themselves by requiring more money from people than what was necessary!
Tax collectors during Jesus’ time were also Jews doing the dirty work for the Roman Empire! Tax Collectors during Jesus’ time were robbers and viewed as traitors! Jesus called a tax collector named Levi, also known as Matthew, to become a disciple! Why would Jesus do that?
Why would Jesus choose a “tax collector” to be His disciple?
a. Jesus knew Levi’s heart (note v28…..)
b. Jesus calls on sinners to repent and be renewed! Let us note that Levi was a robber and a traitor but he wrote the Gospel of Matthew after following Jesus Christ.
And what can we note from v29??
c. Jesus called a sinner for evangelism!
And let us not forget the Religious Leaders who were trying to trap Jesus; what was Jesus doing through the tax collector?
d. Jesus was telling the religious leaders to look beyond themselves and reach out to the “sick”.
The religious leaders thought they had it all figured out and they saw themselves better than anyone else. They abused their power over people. And so, when they saw that Jesus was disrupting what they had, these religious leaders accused Jesus of wrongdoing.
How did Jesus respond to the accusations of the pious religious leaders?
They accused Jesus of fellowshipping with “sinners”! Jesus responded in v32…..
Jesus came to seek and save sinners! This was opposite to what the Jewish leaders was looking for. Jesus was looking for sinners to save. The Jewish Leaders were looking for good works in order to be saved.
And then the pious religious leaders accused Jesus of not fasting and praying. We read in v34…..
And so Jesus’ first response was that celebration is to occur when Jesus is present!
Jesus also responded to accusations of wrongdoing with 2 parables. A parable is a short story to illustrate a godly principle. Look again at v36-39…
What did Jesus mean? Simply, Jesus brought a New Covenant (a new relationship); salvation by grace not by works!
In general, what was Jesus trying to tell the Religious Leaders?
Look back briefly to Luke 4:43……
Jesus was teaching the Jewish Religious Leaders the Good News of God’s Kingdom! Jesus gave the opportunity for the religious leaders to believe in the forgiveness of sins through faith in Him! The Jewish Leaders were telling Jesus to borrow from their belief; but Jesus told them, “I am something new, nothing borrowed!” Jesus is something new, nothing borrowed!
What Biblical Principles can we apply to our lives today?
Jesus called Levi, a sinner, to become a disciple.
Today, Jesus is still calling sinners to repent and be renewed, to be a disciple of Christ!
And so first of all, if you have never done so,
1. Confess to God that you have sinned against Him and Jesus Christ is your ONLY Savior and Lord of your life!
Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ is calling each one of us to be His disciple.
2. Be a disciple of Jesus Christ! What does it mean to be a disciple?
Disciples are to follow, learn, and imitate their Teacher.
And when called by Jesus, Levi was so excited that he invited his friends to meet Jesus!
Let me ask you a question: Let say you got a ticket to watch the Final Game of the World Series and Prince Fielder hit the winning homerun and you caught the ball! What will you do with that baseball that just won the World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers??
Are we telling our friends about Jesus Christ? If we really think about it, Jesus Christ is the greatest treasure we have in our lives! 3. Treasure Jesus Christ and you will be excited to share Him to others, which is God’s desire!
Yes, we are to evangelize. But you know the key to evangelism is how much you really understand how much God loves you! (take note of Ephesians 3:18-19 in which the Apostle Paul prays for Christians; we are to pray the same thing for each other)!
One last thing; the Religious Leaders who confronted Jesus did not want to hear anything new; they thought they already knew all the answers. Jesus told them everything is new with Him; Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom! He is the new garment! He is the new wineskin! Jesus is the new wine! Jesus is something new, nothing borrowed!
And so again, let us be careful of having attitudes like those religious leaders who did not listen to Jesus. Even as Christians, we will not know everything till we get to heaven! Always humble yourself in the sight of the Lord! Jesus always has something new for each one of us!
4. Keep on listening and learning from Jesus Christ!
