WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
- Welcome Guests
- Make sure to invite friends to join us in the new year! 2023 is going to be special as we move into our new theme called: Walking with Christ.
- EXPLAIN: Sermon on the Mount, walk with Christ that week—live out what we’ve learned, each lesson ending with a Challenge, Bible Reading Plan, etc.
NATURE’S IMITATIONS
We have such an amazing world. God has created the earth with creatures that can do amazing things to protect themselves from predators. Two examples I want to show you this morning.
1. Owl Butterfly
This butterfly is native to Central and South America. It is recognizable by the large eye spots on its wings that resemble the eyes of an owl. Its predators would see these spots and think it was another owl. Other predators as well as the prey of these owls like lizards would also see these eye spots as danger and not seek out to attack these butterflies. The Owl Butterfly tends to fly short distances at a time to prevent predators from knowing where they are going and to be able to follow them. They also tend to fly at dusk when the natural predators are not out feeding.
2. Atlas Moth
As opposed to the metal band with the same name, this moth can be found in the forests of Southern Asia. The Atlas Moth grows to a wingspan of 9 ½”. Its wings mimic two cobra snakes guarding this moth and would naturally be feared by any predator that would be interested in a moth snack.
There are so many more fascinating creatures on earth created by God to protect themselves with their natural defense mechanisms. The most interesting part of these two creatures is the way they imitate other animals. Their imitation protects them. And today, we begin a series that goes along with our theme for the year: Walking with Christ.
We want to be hearers of the word but not just hearers. As James 1:22 tells us:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Our goal this year is to take the words we hear and to put them into action.
Let’s begin with our text this morning. Turn to Matthew 9:9-13
9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We are going to spend an entire year in the Sermon on the Mount. But in our introduction, we are going to pass by the Sermon and into the ministry Jesus had begun in calling his disciples. Notably, Jesus calls Levi, also known as Matthew to a simple act: “Follow me.”
What do we notice about Matthew’s response? He rose, and he follows Jesus. No questions. No comments. But a willingness to go with Jesus wherever he goes and to do what he’s doing.
And that is what I want us to see as we prepare for our 2023 theme of Walking with Christ. Let’s look at this text a bit more closely and see what it is that Jesus is calling not just Matthew to do, but for us as his disciples in the 21st century.
CALLING MATTHEW
At this point in Jesus’ ministry, he has already given the Great Sermon on the Mount and has shown his ability to heal the sick and drive out demons. Now he is being followed by large crowds of people interested in what he is doing. However, Jesus isn’t finished calling together the twelve men who would be his closest pupils called his disciples; later, his apostles.
Jesus comes to a place where Jesus passes by Matthew’s tax collector booth. This would be the place where the native Jews would bring their taxes for the government. The place where native Jews, like Levi Matthew could take care of their own needs by charging more than someone owed, so he could skim off the top a portion for himself.
Jesus, sees Matthew and pursues him. What a wonderful demonstration of Jesus’ love of sinners. Why choose Matthew? Jesus is already surrounded by sinners. People who were in need of a Savior. Why choose someone ripping off their fellow man? He chose fishermen before: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John. This is the Good News of Jesus. Pursuing someone far off to himself.
This call to Matthew in verse 9—“Follow me!”—is the same call he gave Simon Peter, Andrew, and James and John. Matthew was called to no longer think of himself in his position or his wealth. This is a career killer. If Matthew chooses to follow Jesus, he gives up a life of ease.
If following Jesus and his path doesn’t work out, what will Matthew do? Surely no one would hire a former tax collector. There isn’t much work for someone who is not trustworthy and a traitor to his people. It’s all or nothing with this decision. Matthew rose and followed Jesus. Notice, he didn’t grumble about this. Not only did he go, but he has a party! He makes a banquet, a feast for them. Not just he and Jesus and the other disciples…but for all the other tax collectors too!
This upsets the Pharisees. These men of the law who knew what it meant to be a tax collector were incensed. How can someone eat with these vile people? This upset the Pharisees because they ignored sinners. They stayed away from the tax collectors and other people who weren’t ceremonially and culturally clean like them. They followed God’s law. These sinners didn’t…therefore we stay away.
What does Jesus tell these Pharisees? He says, it is not the well who need a doctor. Those who are sick. It isn’t the ceremonially clean who need the Savior, but the sinner.
FOLLOW ME
This call of Levi Matthew is our call today. It’s our call for this year especially in 2023, but hopefully once we reach 2024 (next year) we will be people who are living out this call every single day.
Jesus calls his disciples with simple words that anyone can understand: “Follow me.” This call isn’t one we can take lightly. As we see here in Matthew’s life and gospel message, following Jesus is a call to something bigger than we can do on our own.
“Follow me” means not taking our own directions. If we are going to follow Jesus, walking with Christ, that means we (1) go where Jesus goes.
As we see in this passage, Jesus goes to be among those who are not clean and have life figured out. Jesus eats with people who need to hear his message most, the sinners. That means we must go and be ready to interact with people who might not look like us. We must be ready to go and eat with and even have a banquet ready for sinners to eat.
If we go where Jesus goes, this is the life we choose. It also has spiritual implications. “Follow me” means listening to the directions we are given by God in his word—our Bibles. We tend to have presuppositions about what the text says while missing the meaning completely. What is a presupposition? Our conclusions tend to be placed onto the text before we’ve truly read what it says. Then when it doesn’t say what we think it should say we fill in those gaps with our presuppositions, our traditions, and our preferences.
We like to have things figured out like these Pharisees did. They believed they already knew what the Bible said and because they knew, they weren’t willing to hear anything that contradicted or challenged their thinking. We see that over and over in the ministry of Jesus.
If we are going to follow Jesus, we need to go where Jesus says to go.
“Follow me” also means we (2) admit when we need a doctor. Jesus says, it is not the healthy who need a doctor. It’s the sick who need a doctor. The reality is that Jesus was showing these Pharisees and the disciples is they ALL needed the Great Physician. The tax collectors and generalized “sinners” aren’t the only sinners. They needed their eyes open to their own sickness.
And it is in that sickness that they all needed to admit their need of a physician.
We all need to be healed of our sickness: spiritual apathy, making church a ritual rather than that needed relationship during the week. That this gathering assembly doesn’t just become some kind of rote thing we do simply because we are Christians. We gather because we need encouragement of the Gentle Healer because the week was rough. A time to recharge our batteries for the week to come. I need to see the people who call themselves my family. I need to see the smiles on the faces of Falecia and Jeremy as they ask me how my week has been. I need that weekly hug from Vi and to shake Don’s hand. I need to hear the words of encouragement just saying “Hi” from Isaac, Neo, Zac, and others. The big bro hug and handshake I get from my brother Michael. These relationships bring me joy.
And when I am not here, when you are not here, you are genuinely missed, not for attendance numbers, but because your handshake, your hug, your smile, you saying “Hi” is missed to encourage someone you are close to.
We all need to be healed of our sickness: the way we might shun someone when they aren’t living the way we think they should. When we scold someone because they used a word we don’t use in our fellowship. They speak in religious-speak that is different than ours. When a person makes a poor choice and drinks too heavily, has a relationship that isn’t healthy…that’s not the time to shun someone. Jesus gathered with those people to show them the better way. He ate with them to encourage them to see the straight path back to God.
We all need to be healed of our sickness: the way we will harp on another congregation for doing something in their service that we aren’t as comfortable with. We say its not comfort but the Bible doesn’t say we can do that. But really, we are abusing God’s word to scold other congregations for the way they chose to do their worship assembly in a way we don’t want. And then when the elders won’t listen to us, we will just go join another congregation that will do things we like better. Until they don’t. I’ve heard of this happening a few times already in the area churches of Christ. Church hopping. That’s not committing oneself to the church. That’s not committing oneself to the work here or relationships. What are we committing ourselves to when we become a Christian? Follow me. We all must admit we are sick and in need of a physician. None of us is perfect. None of us has it all figured out. I know this is something I will be working on until the return of Christ.
What does Jesus say at the end of our passage? Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” “Follow me” means (3) we learn with this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
This comes from Hosea 6:6. By reciting this passage from Hosea, he is reminding them of their past. The Israelites had forgotten their love of God. The people of Hosea’s time were spending all day thinking about the sacrificial system they were under and making sure they burned the correct offerings to God, they were concerned about doing all the right acts of worship and not doing anything out of turn, yet all the while they were ignoring the steadfast love (hesed) of God and not giving mercy and grace to the people around them. It was even worse. On their way to worship, they would continue their idolatry and oppress the poor.
Their acts of sacrifice weren’t for God, they were for them. And in repeating this prophetic voice of Hosea, Jesus is saying they have not changed and are doing the same things as their forefathers.
The Pharisees had been waiting for the Messiah. Not because they needed saving. But because they wanted to show God how good they had been. “God, look how righteous I am. Look at how great I am. Look at me and my ability to give you exactly what you said you wanted.”
But what does God want? Have some mercy. Be grace-filled.
Jesus would tell a parable about this very thing happening. Often the parables were to explain using something real in their lives. And here is a very real situation, one that many of them had experienced even in this passage in Matthew. This may have been more of a reminder putting right in front of them the reality they lived every day.
LUKE 18:9-14
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Go, learn what this means. I desire mercy not sacrifice. All their lives, these Pharisees had sacrificed. Giving tithes, fasting, making sure their animals were lined up for the sacrifice on Passover and other holidays. And in the rest of their lives, they were unjust, merciless scoundrels to the very people who needed God most.
Are we any better? Are we ignoring the truth of God’s word in giving mercy and grace to the people around us who need it most? We have our acts of worship down to a pattern on Sunday. And that’s great. Good job! But are we making room for those who most need God’s presence in their lives? The poor, the oppressed, the sick, the sinner? Isn’t that what we all need?
Our Scripture reading this morning points us to what God wants from us. What Jesus preached to the Pharisees at Matthew’s dinner party.
I JOHN 1:5-7
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
This year, we are going to do our best to walk in the light. There are 3 things I want us to do each week. (1) We are seeking to walk with Christ in the message of the Sermon on the Mount. This is not an easy message. Jesus calls his people to some serious reflection. I want to challenge us to this message of reflection as well. I hope you’ll join me in doing this with each message preached.
We are going to (2) observe what Jesus is teaching in each passage. Not just read through and assume we’ve figured out his message. Not use our presuppositions to force our mindset into the text. But witness it in real time and really see what it is Jesus is teaching and why.
(3) Seek ways to live this out. It is a shame if after every sermon we hear this message and if then walk to our cars to leave and if we forget everything we’ve heard until the next week. I am not assuming that is what happens. But I do want to help us avoid that possibility. That is why I am going to have a challenge for us every week. Something to reflect on and maybe some kind of homework assignment. Not writing or reading per se, but maybe engaging with a neighbor in your neighborhood. Maybe striking up conversation with someone at the grocery store. Deeper than that, finding ways to serve our community, finding ways to serve our church body, and finding ways to serve someone in need within our congregation or outside the walls of this church.
We will also be getting a copy of this book called “Dwelling in the Word” by Bob Young. Every family will get a free copy to take home and keep. It has a daily scripture reading along with some context to each passage as well as some questions for reflection about the passage. By the end of 2023, this book and scripture reading plan will have us reading through the entire New Testament. A great goal for us.
To truly Walk with Christ, we are called to Follow him into places we wouldn’t necessarily choose to be on our own.
It is not the well who need a physician. There are sick people in our community. There are sick people within our walls too. We all have to admit we need that Great Physician and it’s time for us to take our health as a congregation and as Christians seriously.
As I promised: For our homework this week, it is simple. And I’m not going to be requiring you to turn in any assignments. But this week, I want us to each spend some time in prayer. God, who do you want me to talk to about your son Jesus this week? Who needs my help to bring the good news this week? Is it someone I know? Make a list. Write names down. Pray for them by name every day. Is it someone I don’t know? Keep a couple of lines blank for the Unknown sinner. For the tax collector. Pray that God will bring someone into your life this week that you can witness to. Pray for them and for yourself. That you will be the healthy vessel to bring them good news. Because we have to admit we are all in need of a physician.
Our 2023 theme of “Walking with Christ” is an opportunity to encourage people you know to come explore what the 29th & Yale church is doing this year. But don’t just invite people to church. Church is great and I am glad that you do that, but not everyone you meet will be ready to jump into church attendance from the start.
Ask them if you can pray for them. Praying for a neighbor or someone you’ve just met is very personal and intimate and it’s an honor to have someone ask to pray for you. Ask neighbors what you can be doing to pray for them. Ask them if there’s anything they need. If you know of a need, help them. Do something kind for the people in your neighborhood. Let them know you love them—because Jesus loved us when we were still sinners. He knew we needed the Great Physician.
INVITATION
How can we help you this morning? What part of Walking with Christ scares you the most? Let us pray for you. Maybe you’ve heard something this morning that has been a burden on you most of your life and you would like to shed your weight of burden. Have you been like the Pharisee unwilling to accept people? Maybe you’re the tax collector who knows he is a sinner but is ready to follow Jesus. Maybe you’re the other disciples just along for the ride trying to understand what it is Jesus intends for you. We want to help you.
