Paul was a member of the church in St. Joe, IN, an elder. He and his wife were really great friends to us the whole time we lived there. They’d do anything for us…almost. Paul was retired, which meant he had a lot of time to work on his lawn, and he enjoyed it, and it showed. His lawn always looked like it belonged on the cover of “Better Homes and Gardens.” Have you ever had someone like that live just 2 doors down from you?
It makes your lawn look pretty bad! I loved Paul, but he sure made my lawn crummy, even if it was just average.
Seems like there has always been someone like that next door to me! Seriously, couldn’t someone with just a slightly weedy, slightly unkempt lawn live by me? Having that slightly imperfect lawn next door can help yours look so much better!
It’s like the Oreo diet plan I read about: you just buy 4 dozen bags of double stuffed Oreos… and give them to all the people who hang out around you!
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Mt 23 are like that unkempt lawn:
Matthew 23:13 (NIV)
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Matthew 23:15 (NIV)
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Matthew 23:24-26 (NIV)
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
We really like the Pharisees, don't we? They can make us look so good - always fighting with Jesus, always in the wrong, it seems. We really look good when we compare ourselves to them... unless we look like them!!!
Mark has grouped together very neatly these run-ins with our favorite Bible villains. You have to ignore the chapter divisions at this point – Mark didn’t write those in. Each run-in, Jesus responded differently. It’s not until the 5th scene that we hear the Pharisee’s even respond. Jesus is the star here, not them.
The confrontation that we are going to look at today deals with the purpose of His ministry. How Jesus relates to sinful people is one of the more often misunderstood issues about Him. Mark's gospel couldn't be clearer on this point: Jesus had a purpose in His ministry, and sinful people played a big part in that purpose.
Mark 2:13-17 (NIV)
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
I. Uses Sinners
Levi was a tax collector. To put that into more familiar terms, Levi was like an IRS auditor X10!
Look at him that way, and you begin to get an idea of what the people thought of tax collectors! They were thieves, traitors to the Jewish nation who obtained their job by buying it. Levi worked for Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas worked for the Roman Empire. There was no love lost between Roman politicians and the Jews. Become one of their toadies and you’re not going to be on very many Jewish favorite fives lists.
So, you have less than 3 years before you hand over your life’s work to 11 men. The success of your entire mission will rest on how well they carry on after you leave. You better choose carefully. What kind of people do you recruit? Political leaders? Religious leaders? Skilled workers? Engineers? Rich people? Public figures? Who do you use?
Jesus uses (used) sinners.
Why?...
1. Serving the Lord is one of the ways that we grow up in Him.
Jesus didn’t wait until they were all perfect before He sent them out to do His work – ch3. He gave them His authority and His ability as they went.
When you look at where you are in your spiritual walk, compared to a year ago, and it looks pretty much the same, why do you suppose that is? I’m going to bet, if that’s true, that you haven’t been in a situation where you’re really serving for the Lord.
This may come as a shock to you, but we don’t make it a practice at CCC to wait until someone has achieved perfection before they’re allowed to serve in some capacity!
That’s partly because Jesus isn’t going to wait around until you’re a “supersaint” to use you! Jesus has used people who aren’t perfect yet from the very start. It’s part of the way that He grows you up to become what He wants you to be. Jesus uses sinners.
2. Jesus’ purpose was to save sinners – to offer Himself as a ransom for many.
Sinful, lost, people are the focus of His life’s work. So, who could relate to sinners better than fellow sinners? Do you suppose that Levi would have been a good person to talk to other tax collectors about Jesus? Look again at the text. What was going on? Levi is having “Hey-I’ve-come-to-Jesus-and-so-can-you!” party right there in his house. The crowd he invited is made up of the very kind of people who hung around with him. Now, Levi has an open window to share Jesus with that same kind of people. Jesus uses sinners!
3. The One Who really does the work is God.
He doesn't need just those who seem most suitable to us.
It’s kind of funny to me – the way we take ourselves too seriously sometimes.
Remember…
1 Corinthians 1:26
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
When God takes the very worst person or the very least qualified person you can imagine, and they somehow become a front runner in the Kingdom, you realize that it’s God Who’s really at work here. Ultimately, God is the One Who receives glory.
Are you qualified to be used by Jesus in this Kingdom enterprise? The Main qualification is a willingness to be used. Levi left everything - with no hope of getting back into it later (unlike fishing). In this light, why does Jesus use sinners? Here’s one more reason to consider. It’s on a different occasion…:
Luke 7:40-43
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Jesus uses sinners because those who have been forgiven the most have the greatest reason to throw themselves into this!
Ill – One of the things you learn when you become involved in AA or NA is that people trying to overcome addictions need a sponsor – they need the help of someone who has been there done that and beaten it.
I remember a man in our church – Rich Bull. Rich seemed a regular guy to me, but there was something in Rich’s past. And anytime my dad was working with someone who was having trouble with alcohol, he’d call Rich. You see, Rich was an alcoholic, but he had given his life to Jesus, and ever since then hasn’t had a drink. Not only was the struggling person ready to meet and listen to Rich, but Rich was always on the ready to help.
Jesus said it – the more a person has sinned, the more a person has been forgiven. The more a person has been forgiven, that more motivated that person is to help others along.
Jesus uses sinners. He doesn’t call us to partner with Him in His work because we’re perfect too. He calls us to come work at the task and let Him do the perfecting. Don’t wait until you’re the perfect person to jump in and work for the Kingdom. If we all did that, you wouldn't have a preacher and no one at CCC would be doing anything either!
Jesus uses sinners to be His workers... Jesus also shows sinners He’s their friend
II. Accepts Sinners
We all have ways to let someone know we accept them, don’t we? How do you do that?
Maybe you invite them over or invite them out to eat. Maybe you accept their invitation to be a friend on FB. Maybe you let them have your cellphone number. Or if you’re old school, you might hand someone a business card. These are all actions that say, in some sense, “I accept you.”
You have to understand that to eat together was a significant act of acceptance in the 1st cent. It meant acceptance and peace.
So, the Pharisees watch Jesus attending the party at Levi’s house – the tax collectors party – and they’re indignant that He would associate with that kind of people. But remember, Jesus is living life on purpose, and Mark is letting us peek inside here again to remind us what that looks like. It’s not by accident. It’s not just coincidence. There’s some purpose to this. We’ve already looked hard at Mark 10:45 – the key to the whole gospel of Mk. Here now in v17 Jesus gives us another outright statement of His life’s purpose on earth, one which we often forget:
(v17) to call the sinful
It’s repeated again, in different words, but with the same focused heart:
to seek and save the lost Lk. 19:10
to bring light into darkness Jn. 12:46
to save the lost of Israel Mt. 15:24...
What do you see when you see people whose life is a mess?
Do you see an addict? Stupid addict! No self-control!
Do you see a party animal? Stupid guy! So immature!
Do you see a materialist? Stupid person! Selfish!
Do you see a crook? Stupid thief! Liar! Crook!
What do you see? Jesus had the ability to look deep into the life of the worst of sinners – crook, prostitute, terrorist, materialist, hypocrite – and see a sick person who needed His care.
What Jesus said was so obvious! Kind of like "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" "Well don't do that!"
Of course the healthy don't need a doctor - that's pretty basic! If it's not broken, don't fix it... Boy, aren’t you glad you came today!? It’s the sick who need a doctor! Amen? Thanks Capt. Obvious!
If it is so obvious, why don't we act like it? I mean by that, what about CCC indicates we actually believe this? If we’re focused on the same purpose as Jesus Christ, what about CCC, right now, indicates that?
When we look for the people we’d like to invite to Church, when we decide who we’ll sit by at lunch, when we consider kids we’ll bring along for SS, when we share what we believe, when we consider the people who live next door, what indicates that we believe the sick are the ones who need a doctor?
Jesus accepts sinners. Maybe our sign out front should say that: “now accepting sinners, because Jesus did!”
Ill - Maybe I’ve told the story before about 2 shoe salesmen who were sent to Western Africa. One sent back a message: “Get me back home as soon as possible! No one here is wearing shoes!” The other one also sent back a message: “Hurry! Send me more shoes! No one here is wearing shoes!”
What kind of people know that they are welcomed here today among us? People who dress right? People who know a lot? People who already fit in? People who have their act together, or can at least fake it well?
Are sinful people welcomed here? Sure: "The church is for sinners and we're glad you're here!" Yes the church is for sinners...sinners like you and me who need the grace and mercy of our Lord.
There’s a term in computer nomenclature: user friendly. Means what it implies. Helps the user to operate it. I’m convinced that the Church ought to be working to make sure people understand we’re visitor friendly – because Jesus did just that.
Does Jesus really want difficult people, people who are hard to be around, people who have made a mess of things, to be among us? Oh, maybe they aren’t the most fun to have around, maybe they aren’t the most desirable, but neither were you when He accepted you!
OK. So Jesus accepts sinners. I've known a lot of people who have fallen away because their friends were bad. You know the old saying: "bad company corrupts good morals." - It's not just an old saying: I Co 15:33. That brings us to the final point I see in this story. Jesus wasn't just with them for the sake of companionship. Jesus uses sinners, accepts sinners, and…
III. Cleanses Sinners
If we could keep this purpose in mind, we’d find it a lot easier to accept the people whose ugly lifestyles make us uncomfortable. We’d also find ourselves being a lot more creative and deliberate about reaching out to them.
The Pharisees were sick too, but they were righteous in their own eyes. It's really hard to get a person to go to the doctor when you can't convince him he's sick!
Now, in the physical world, that’s manly, right guys? We call it being tough. “Oooh. That’s gonna leave a mark! No big deal! I’m still breathing! I can still walk! It’s just a scratch.”
But in the spiritual realm, it’s called something else. “Oooh. That may be true of other people, but not me. I don’t need help. God and I are good. I’ve got this God thing down to a science, and I’m good at it.” Pharisees. In their eyes, if Jesus was here for lost people, then Jesus wasn't for them!
Jesus came to call the sinner to righteousness and to show the self-righteous his sin. He wasn’t interested in just attending the party. He was there for the sake of helping sick people get better.
I notice Levi never went back to tax collection. Jesus had made a profound impact on this sinner's life. He didn't just want someone to travel along who could do His taxes for Him in April!
We’re in a city full people each day who could be made well, who could be cleansed, if we would make our purpose the same as Jesus’ purpose. Don’t say that would never work – or the story of a tax collector named Levi wouldn’t be here in Mark’s gospel.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
I’m not. You’re not. But thanks be to God, Who leads us!
Let’s all realize something together this morning – whether you’re a follower of Jesus or not:
that sinners need to be accepted so that they can be cleansed; that people who are lost are the most happy when they find their way; that a light is most noticeable when it shines in the darkness.
Conclusion:
That’s what Jesus wants with sinners! They played a very central role in His whole plan and still do. In fact, that’s what He came to do – to offer His life as a ransom for many.
The last time I checked, that means there’s someone who needs to be rescued.
Really, what you need to decide this morning is if Jesus is here to call you, as a sinner, to righteousness, or if He’s here to show you, as a self-righteous person, your sin. Either way, you and I are both people who need the Doctor – people whom Jesus has called to be healed by Him.
