INTRODUCTION
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Last week when we saw Jesus’ encounter with Peter, James and John, we saw that they brought their boats to land and left everything to follow Jesus.
When you look at the passages that I mentioned and the example of Peter, James and John, it seems obvious that when we decide to follow Jesus that our lives will not and are not supposed to be the same.
Today we are going to look at he call of Matthew and some of the events that took place as a result of that calling by Jesus for Matthew to follow Him.
Matthew was a tax collector. I do not want to go into all of the details of what that meant other than a couple of observations.
The Jews fiercely hated tax collectors because they hated being under Romans rule. The Romans would use people from the country that they were taxing to collect the taxes. Many of the collectors were dishonest, collecting more than they were supposed to.
Because these collectors were working for the Roman government, they were hated and they were not allowed to enter the synagogue. Their money was considered tainted also. Tax collectors were lumped into the same category as the robbers and murders.
Matthew is not one that you would expect Jesus to call given the history, but it shows that Jesus will reach out to every one. Matthew may have been an honest collector because when he follows Jesus there is no mention of any restitution as in the case of Zacchaeus.
For Matthew, his life was going to be forever changed. His old world was about to come in contact with his new one.
When you give you life to Jesus, you are making a LIFETIME commitment to Him, and when you do your life will be different. Let look at what happens when the old meets the new.
SERMON
I. THE OLD LIFE MEETS THE NEW 27-28 READ
We have a scene where Jesus is walking and he comes across the tax booth that Matthew is manning.
Jesus sees Matthew and calls him to follow Him. Matthew was most likely a disciple of Jesus as were Peter, James and John before they left everything to follow Him.
As was the case of Peter, James and John when Jesus came in to the life of Matthew, he left the old life for a new life with Jesus.
Does this mean that when you become a Christian that you have to quit your job? For some people, the answer is yes. Matthew was being called to full-time service with Jesus so he would need to leave his vocation.
We do need to leave anything thing that will get in the way of our relationship with Jesus.
When we follow Jesus, when you decide to be immersed and become a part of the body of Christ, you are called to become a permanent part of the body of Christ.
When we receive a new life in Christ, our whole life is to be different. Jesus goals become our goals. What we consider entertaining will change, where we go will change. Our old life is buried with Christ at baptism (Romans 6) and we embark on a new adventure with Jesus.
We have to be willing to cut our ties to the old life it that gets in the way of serving Jesus.
When your old life meets you new life, the new life in Christ is the one that should be the way you are going.
The calling of Matthew is interesting because Jesus reached out to someone who was considered one of the lower parts of society, a social leper, and an outcast. There is not a one of us in this place today who is beyond the reach of Jesus.
When we accept the call to follow Jesus, what about our friends? Should we just leave them? Do we ignore them? Let’s look Matthew’s unique solution for this problem.
II. THE OLD FRIENDS MEET THE NEW FRIEND 29-32 READ
I like the solution that Matthew has concerning his old friends. Matthew threw a party, and the reason for that party was to let his friends get to know Jesus.
Matthew was also celebrating his decision to follow Jesus.
Sometimes I have heard testimonies from people who make it sound like they were having a good time with drugs, booze and pre, post and extra marital affairs until Jesus came and spoiled the party for them.
When we decide to follow Jesus it should be a time to celebrate the new life that we have in Christ. What better way to celebrate than to introduce your friends to Jesus! He saved you, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of our friends were able to experience the gift of salvation!
The religious leaders were taking note of the fact that Jesus was eating and drinking with the sinners and tax collectors. How else could Jesus reach them unless He made some contact with them.
Today, if you have been a Christian for sometime, how many people do you spent time with who are not Christians? We cannot reach whom we have no contact with.
This does not mean that we should go hang with the boys at the bar, but it means that we make contact at work, or we go to dinner with people. We do have to do the things we did in our past life to reach people for Christ. We do not want to go into a place that will lead us to sin against God.
Notice what Jesus says in verse 31-32 when answering the criticism. READ VERSE 31-32. Jesus is using a bit of biting sarcasm when answering the Pharisee’s on this one. He said that He came for those who needed Him, not those who think they are too righteous for Him as the Pharisees thought they were.
Sometimes people in the church will do this to us also. I remember when I was working at Square D; I would go to lunch with my co-workers from the Punch Press department. One of my Christian friends basically said the same thing to me about eating with them. Why do you want to be seen with those guys.
In Matthew 9:13 in the parallel account of this scene, Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “But go and learn what this means: ’I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
The Pharisees were so caught up in being holy, that they were not, they were a mess inside. They were more interested in a religion than they were in a relationship.
Religion gets in the way of compassion, a relationship with Jesus will cause us to have compassion on those who need Jesus.
Jesus was telling these guys that they were more concerned about appearance than they were to see these lost tax collectors and sinners be saved.
III. THE OLD ATTITUDES MEET THE NEW 31-35 READ
Our attitude towards people will change. Jesus was not hard hearted toward people and neither should we. Jesus did not look at lost people as the enemy, but as victims of the enemy.
We need to look every lost person that we know as someone who needs Jesus. No matter what they have done or said to us in the past, we need to try to take Jesus to them.
Anthrax is a big scare right now, if we knew our friend had it, we would try to get them to the doctor as soon as possible. We need to do the same thing for people who need some soul work.
When we bring people in to learn about Jesus, do not be surprised if they do not think, act or speak like those who have been following Jesus for a long time.
This church is not a hotel for the saints, but a hospital for sinners who need Jesus.
At this time point Matthew tells us that not only the Pharisees were questioning Jesus, but the followers of John the Baptist were inquiring as to why Jesus and His disciples were not fasting and praying.
Jesus said that this was not a time of mourning, but a time of celebration. He used the illustration of a wedding. A wedding is not a time to mourn but to celebrate. The Jews were only commanded to fast on the Day of Atonement (a day of mourning over their sins). The Pharisees ordered the rest of the fasts. They would fast on Mondays and Thursdays and they would make sure that people knew it.
The disciples of John were mourning because John was in jail at this time getting close to loosing his life.
When we have Jesus, our life should reflect a celebration of that fact. WE should not come off as “dill-pickle” Christians or “lemon” Christians. (TALK ABOUT THE JOY OF THE LORD)
Before we had Jesus we needed to be in mourning, but since Jesus came into our lives, we have reason to celebrate.
IV. THE OLD FAITH MEETS THE NEW 36-39 READ
Before a person becomes a Christian, they had faith in something. Before they have Jesus, they may be putting their faith in some other religion, maybe they are putting their faith in themselves or in their social status. All of us for the most part have faith in something.
When we accept Jesus we are saying that we know the Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life and the only way to get to God.
Too many people want to take Jesus and cut Him put and put pieces of Him over their lives. Instead of putting on the new garments, we sometimes want to keep the old ones on and then cut pieces off the new garment and put them on the new.
Verse 36 says this will not work. In the context Jesus is speaking of the New Covenant verses the Old Covenant. If you try to patch the old with the new, it will ruin both of the garments.
For some people they say that Jesus has not done anything for them but it is because they have not put on the new garments. They are still holding on to the old and they are trying to patch up the holes with Jesus.
Are you in that boat today? Are you trying to use Jesus as a patch, covering holes as you see them or are wearing the new clothing of Christ? Don’t just call out on Jesus to help you when times get bad, but rely on Him daily, walk with Him daily, serve Him daily!
If you are trying to live your life without fully committing your self to Jesus, the patches will not even match what you are doing. (Verse 36)
In verse 37-38 Jesus goes on to illustrate His point by saying that you cannot put new wine in old wineskins. (EXPLAIN WHAT WINESKINS ARE AND DURING THE FERMENTATION PROCESS HOW GASES BUILD UP)
If you try to live your new life in Christ in your old body, something will give. Something will burst eventually. We are new wineskins when we are immersed into Jesus.
Some people will try to dump some Jesus into their old self and it will not work too well. If you are going to follow Jesus, you have to give your all to Him. You have to die to self. Once again this is why Romans 6 is such an important passage regarding baptism. Baptism is where we die and where we clothe ourselves with Christ. GAL 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Things that do not harmonize should not go together. In the context Jesus is speaking about the old religious traditions of the Law and of the Pharisees. Can you imagine still sacrificing goats and bulls when Jesus has paid the price for our sins?
Jesus says in verse 38 that new wine needs to go into new wineskins.
In verse 39 Jesus closes with a chilling statement. READ 39
I believe that Jesus was looking at the Pharisees when He said this. They were content with the system they had to the point that they would not even taste what Jesus had to offer to them.
Many people today do the same thing, the think their way to God is good enough. They do not want to step out of the comfort zone of their life to experience the new life that Jesus has to offer to them.
CONCLUSION
When we come to Jesus you have two worlds colliding. Jesus will impact every area of your life. You have to decide to let Jesus be the Lord of every area of your life. The lord of your family, your entertainment, your marriage, your finances. Everything.
The great thing about this that for every area you give to Jesus, He will bless you in ways you will not believe.
We need to remember that in order to reach people, we need to be involved with people who need Jesus.
Jesus will rock your world, He will take you on the ride of your life if you will let Him.
Today we give you the opportunity to accept Jesus as your lord and savior.
If you are ready for a life-time commitment to following, serving and Loving Jesus, we invite you to begin your journey today.
