OPEN: Back in 2002, a newspaper in Massachusetts had this classified ad: “Unknown item for sale. We know it’s valuable; we just don’t know what it is. If you can identify it, we’ll sell it for $250.” (Reader’s Digest 9/02 p. 145)
The Bible is a collection of stories where God knew why people were valuable even though we might not understand why. There are people we might discard because those folks had LABELS which were dismissive of their worth as individuals.
This month we’re going to be focusing on people in the New Testament who were given LABELS” that might make us dismiss them as having value to God… or to us. There was Simon the Zealot; James and John, The Sons of Thunder; Doubting Thomas; And of course today – Matthew (Levi) the Tax Collector.
When we think of Matthew, we think of the Gospel that bears his name. It’s the FIRST of the four Gospels, and it’s unique for a number of reasons. The Gospel starts out by giving us the Genealogy of Jesus; It introduces us to Joseph being told not to divorce Mary because what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit; It’s the only Gospel to tell us about the Wisemen from the East and the star that led them to the house where they lived in Bethlehem; and it’s in Matthew that we read the Sermon on the Matthew and read what is called the “Lord’s Prayer.”
And that’s just the first 7 chapters!!!
The focus of Matthew’s Gospel was to convince the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah. To do that, Matthew quoted from the Old Testament 99 times (from 14 different Old Testament books). Matthew quoted more from the Old Testament more than Mark, Luke & John … combined. (Derek Geldart)
You see, if Matthew hadn’t written his Gospel we’d have missed out on a lot about what we know of Jesus. And Because the Gospel of Matthew has been so central to our understanding of Jesus, the church has of often held this Apostle (Matthew) in high regard. This little collage of how artists have portrayed him (I created a meme with 3 portrayals of Matthew online) and kind of gives you an idea of how much respect he’s had.
But, Matthew didn’t always get that kind of respect. At one time, Matthew was universally hated by just about everybody in Israel. In our passage this morning we read that (Jesus) “went out and saw a tax collector named Levi (Matthew’s other name), sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
As far as many in Israel were concerned, there were sinners… and then there was a special class of sinners called tax collectors. Tax collectors were hated for two reasons:
1) They were traitors… they worked for the Romans – and the Jews hated Rome. these tax collectors collected the taxes that were required by Rome. So essentially, the tax collectors were seen as folks who had SOLD OUT to the occupiers of their land.
ILLUS: One man described how despised these tax collectors were:
Hundreds of people walked by where Matthew had his booth. They hated him, and under their breath they called him a “Roman dog”. When they looked at him, they saw a “monster” that had betrayed his people for profit, and was rich because he cheated them out of their money. (John Lowe)
Matthew had betrayed his people for profit…
2) But that last statement pointed out the other reason tax collectors were hated. People felt that Matthew had cheated them out of their money. Tax Collectors made their living by adding a “fee” on top of the tax. The fee was all their’s. It could be as little… or as much as the collector wanted, and there wasn’t a thing anyone could do about it. You didn’t argue with the representative of Rome. It wasn’t healthy!
So, Matthew was hated by virtually everybody who knew him. And yet Jesus selected this vile and disgusting man to be one of His 12 disciples. Jesus chose a man with the LABEL – “tax collector” – to be His follower.
Why would He do that? Well, He did that… because that’s what Jesus does. Jesus chooses the outcasts of this world to be His followers
ILLUS: I recently read an intriguing meme on FB by a man named Sinclair Ferguson: “It is misleading to say that God accepts us the way we are. Rather, He accepts us DESPITE the way we are. He receives us only IN Jesus and for Christ’s sake. Nor does He mean to leave us the way He found us. But to transform us into the likeness of His Son.”
As wonderful as the Gospel of Matthew is, Matthew was NOT an accomplished writer when Jesus called him to follow Him. It was only once Matthew belonged to Jesus that he was transformed from an annoying tax collector into one of the most influential men of Christianity.
ILLUS: Someone once observed: A basketball in my hands is worth about $25. But you put that ball in the hands of a professional basketball player like Lebron James or Kobe Bryant and it’s worth millions. A really good golf club in my hands might hit a ball a few yards. But you put that same club in the hands of Tiger Woods and it can win a Masters championship. It just depends on whose hands those objects are in.
It’s the same with anything that you put in the hands of Jesus. You put some dirt and saliva in my hands and you’ll get is a big mess. But dirt and saliva in the hands of Jesus can heal a blind man. Two fish and 5 loaves in my hands will get you a couple of fish sandwiches. But two fish and 5 loaves in the hands of Jesus will feed thousands. Put a few nails in my hands and I could build you a birdhouse. But you put nails in the hands of Jesus and those nails can supply salvation for the entire world.
Now, my point is this: whatever you put into the hands of Jesus will be changed. When you give your life to Jesus, He will give value to your life. Your life can literally be transformed by Jesus - His hands will touch you… and you’ll never be the same. He can make your life to be worth more than you ever thought it could ever be without Him. The key thing is… put your life in His hands.
But the world doesn’t think like that. The world labels people based on WHAT they’ve done in their lives, and their value is tied to that label. For example: the Pharisees and teachers of the Law criticized Jesus for eating with the “sinners and tax collectors.” That was the label – that’s WHO they were.
And that’s what worldly people have always done. The world views sinful people as damaged goods. Those folks are NO GOOD; They’ve never been ANY GOOD; and they never will be ANY GOOD. And that’s why a lot of churches focus on bringing in “good” people to fill their pews.
ILLUS: I knew of a church that was like that back in the 60’s. It was a mega-church of the day (600+) and they had doctors; and lawyers; and a state senator; and skilled musicians; and the best preachers that money could buy. It was (by most standards) a highly successful church where all the best people in the community went to worship. And yet, just beneath the surface, there were people who were judgmental, vindictive, and immoral. Now, not all of them were that way - but too many were.
And the leadership looked the other way because they wanted the “good people” and the “Good reputation” that came from not admitting they had problems. They wanted good people… not people like Matthew. The presence of a man like Matthew presence would be a stain on their reputation.
I have learned that, when you get a church where all the “good people” want to worship, you often end up with serious problems. That’s because everybody gets focused on “quality” - quality of the church, and of the church building, and the programs, and the preacher, and the quality of the kind of members… etc. etc. etc. They have a “quality” thing going on. But they often miss focusing on the quality that is most important: the “quality” of Jesus. That’s why Jesus answered the Pharisees & teachers of Law with these words: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32
That’s why so many of the followers of Jesus had labels. Jesus chose them BECAUSE of their labels.
And that brings me to my final point. Jesus calls us to EMBRACE our labels.
It’s interesting – we only know two things about Matthew. 1) He wrote the Gospel of Matthew; and 2) He was a Tax collector. And that’s it. He’s never quoted in any of the Gospels or in any of the letters to the churches.
But… in the gospel of Matthew we read this: “The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector…” Matthew 10:2-3
Now that’s interesting.
In the Gospels of Mark and Luke (which give you the same lists of the 12) those gospels identify Matthew… as “Matthew”. Period. There’s no mention of his ever having been a tax collector.
But in Matthew’s OWN GOSPEL… Matthew identifies himself as “Matthew, the tax collector”! Why would he do that? Well, he was embracing his label. He’d been a sinful, self-centered, selfish individual. He was not a nice man… and he wants you to remember that! Matthew didn’t try to bury his past. He used his past as part of his witness.
It’s kind of like what Paul did once he became a Christian. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” I Timothy 1:12-16
In other words, Paul was saying: I wasn’t worth saving, but Jesus did it anyway to prove it could be done.
Embrace your label. You and I are sinners saved by grace. We didn’t DESERVE to be rescued from hell.
As Paul wrote: “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” Romans 5:6 & 8 & 10
We didn’t deserve to be saved. We were weak/ we were sinners/ we were enemies of God. But that’s our testimony. And that was Matthew’s testimony.
And, because Matthew never forgot that he’d been a tax collector. And his testimony introduced others to Jesus. Notice, in our text this morning we read that “(Matthew) made (Jesus) a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.” Luke 5:29
Tax collectors came to eat with them? Why? Well, they didn’t come because Matthew had suddenly become more righteous than they were. They came because they wanted to meet this Jesus who’s accepted their old friend. And they came because they KNEW something had changed in Matthew’s life. There was something different about him that made them realize, what Jesus touches He changes.
CLOSE: There is a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day she was approached by a man who said to her, “Little girl, don’t you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn’t beautiful like the one you’re wearing? It was an ugly, wooden thing.” The girl replied, “Yes, I know. But they told me in Sunday school that whatever Jesus touches, He changes.”
INVITATION
