An Effective Soul Winner Mark 2:13-20
INTRO.: These events occurred during the first year of the public ministry of Jesus. He is involved in a preaching tour of Galilee and has called His first four disciples, fishermen who make their living on the Sea of Galilee. He is near the port of Capernaum when He calls Matthew Levi, a publican charged with the responsibility of collecting taxes on imports and exports.
I doubt He and Levi were strangers. After all, Jesus was preaching and teaching in the area and Levi was in a place of public commerce where the gathering of a crowd might be natural. How could he help knowing about and hearing the Master?
It isn’t as surprising to see Levi, put his books and his lucrative position aside and follow Jesus as it might be if he were a complete stranger. The four fishermen did the same, but, again, they were already acquainted with Jesus.
Here is a great lesson on evangelism. We see two evangelists at work as a team. Jesus, the Master Evangelist, calls and uses Matthew Levi, a man anxious that his friends should know the Lord he now served. I want to suggest some principles essential to winning the lost:
I. First, let’s notice the kind of individual Jesus called into His service:
A. Matthew Levi was tax collector. An employee on commission of the hated Roman occupation government.
1. He was called a “publican” because, supposedly, he worked for the people, but most of the people hated him and his kind. They were classed with prostitutes, thieves, and other undesirables. No more popular, I guess than the leper Jesus cured in the previous chapter.
2. Many publican were crooks. Luke 3:12, 13 tells us some tax collectors were guilty of collecting more taxes than were due. Presumably, they kept the excess for their own use. Roman authorities protected them in this as long as they paid the Romans what was due.
3. The Rabbis held out no hope whatever for the publicans. They were excluded from all religious services. They were not accepted in proper society. They were not even considered truthful enough to appear as witnesses in court.
B. In order to be effective soul winners, we must see potential in every individual. Jesus knew Levi’s heart and was able to see potential in him.
1. There were probably a few honest Publicans and my guess would be Matthew was one of them. In none of the Gospels is there any record of any reparations being made or even offered as in the case of Zaccheus.
2. Whatever he may have been before, Matthew Levi became a leader among Jesus’ followers, a powerful influence in spreading the Gospel throughout the world, and an inspired biographer of Jesus. Only Jesus would have thought it.
3. Others would automatically see Matthew as worthless. Jesus knew the man’s heart, as He did all men. If God gives us an opportunity to speak a word for Him, we must assume it is worth doing. God knows the hearts of men.
4. ILLUS.: A preacher friend of mine was propositioned by a prostitute while making a visit on the wrong side of the tracks.” He talked to her about Jesus until she walked away. He came back a few days later and did the same. She seemed receptive and he kept coming back until one day she didn’t appear. We don’t know what difference he might have made in her life, but God knows.
5. Levi caught the same spirit from Jesus and immediately opened his home to a bunch of “unlikely prospects.”
II. Matthew gathered a group of his friends and co workers for a feast to honor Jesus. In this he fulfilled Jesus’ expectations in calling him.
A. The guest list was about what we would expect from a man like Matthew. After all, he would have trouble getting taxpayers to attend.
1. There were other tax collectors. Many of them were thieves and Matthew knew it. Jesus had not written him off because of his occupation. He wouldn’t write off his co workers.
2. There were other “sinners.” No doubt there were robbers, prostitutes, drunkards, etc. No doubt, he opened his door to all the street people. A large crowd gathered. Luke calls it a “great banquet.” 5:29
3. I guess the banquet was held in the open air, perhaps because Levi’s house was too small to accommodate it. A great crowd of noisy riffraff gathered around Jesus.
B. I say it was outside because the Pharisees “saw Him” eating with sinners and publicans:
1. The righteous men would never go into a tax collector’s house or associate with sinners. Pharisees were separatists of the worst kind.
2. But Jesus was not a separatist. It was no problem for Him to eat with them and not participate in their sins or share their philosophies. Nor did He fear the venom of His critics.
3. No doubt their reluctance to be seen with the sinners who surrounded Jesus caused them to question His disciples (who may have been on the fringes of the crowd), “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
4. Jesus response; “they’re sick and I am the Great Physician. They need me”
5. In order to be effective soul winners, we must recognize the needy souls and move to meet their needs.
III. We need to ask ourselves what Jesus’ main concern was:
A. He seems unconcerned about what His critics think of Him.
1. They are the some of most powerful people in Jewish society. The regulated the holiness of the people. Had powerful influence with both Jews and Romans.
2. However, they did not really know the Heavenly Father. They simply studied His Law with the goal of proving themselves holier than others. They knew nothing of love or grace. Knowledge combined with their lack of grace made them dangerous.
3. Rather than try to ingratiate Himself with them, Jesus attempted to teach these teachers.
B. His main concern was to meet the needs of those who acknowledged their need. After all, He could barely hope to meet the needs of these teachers who thought themselves to be perfect and in need of no help.
1. He saw Matthew as a man in need of meaning and mission in his life. Hated by both Jew and Roman, he was restricted to the company of other tax collectors and sinners.
2. May have been materially wealthy enough to feed a large crowd a banquet. He was spiritually destitute. Not even allowed into temple or synagogue.
3. Obviously, Matthew was aware of his need because Jesus didn’t have to say “follow me” twice. There was no hesitation on Matthew’s part.
C. Jesus saw the crowd at Matthew’s banquet as needing redemption and meaning and a mission in their lives. Matthew had introduced Him to people just like himself.
1. There are still multitudes of needy people in our world. People in need of redemption, meaning and mission just like Matthew and his friends.
2. We must intentionally reach out to them as Matthew and Jesus did. You meet people every day who need to know Jesus and don’t. Speak to them about Him. Invite them to know Him.
3. In order to be effective soul winners, we must put the needs of the lost ahead of everything else. Jesus did. Matthew did.
4. We must have a genuine compassion for those who are without Christ and intentionally reach out to them.
5. We must be willing to accept them as a part of our fellowship and welcome them into the family of God.
CONC.: What have we learned about Jesus, the Servant of God from His encounter with Matthew? 1. He sees potential in all people, 2. He sees the real needs of peoples’ hearts, and 3. He puts meeting the needs of sinners ahead of everything else including His own safety.
If you are outside Christ, God can see into your heart and knows you are capable of doing great things for Him. He loves you and knows your needs. He has put your salvation ahead of everything, even His own Son.
